Abstract
What determines emigration, and what impact does it have on the sending country? We
consider the case of Denmark between 1868 and 1908, when a large number of people left for
America. A significant fraction of these were tyender, a servant-like occupational group that
was heavily discriminated against at the time, and who saw little opportunities for
advancement at home. We exploit the fact that the Danish agrarian reforms between 1784 and
1807 had differential impacts on this class of landless laborers around the country, and use
detailed parish-level data – police protocols of emigrants; population censuses and land
registers – to show that areas with a more unequal distribution of land witnessed larger
emigration. We then use income tax data, finding evidence of a positive income effect on the
areas which saw most emigration.
consider the case of Denmark between 1868 and 1908, when a large number of people left for
America. A significant fraction of these were tyender, a servant-like occupational group that
was heavily discriminated against at the time, and who saw little opportunities for
advancement at home. We exploit the fact that the Danish agrarian reforms between 1784 and
1807 had differential impacts on this class of landless laborers around the country, and use
detailed parish-level data – police protocols of emigrants; population censuses and land
registers – to show that areas with a more unequal distribution of land witnessed larger
emigration. We then use income tax data, finding evidence of a positive income effect on the
areas which saw most emigration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher | European Historical Economics Society |
| Number of pages | 30 |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2020 |
| Series | EHES Working Papers in Economic History |
|---|---|
| Number | 213 |