Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/183466 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IFN Working Paper No. 1237
Publisher: 
Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm
Abstract: 
We study the political effects of mass emigration to the United States in the 19th century using data from Sweden. To instrument for total emigration over several decades, we exploit severe local frost shocks that sparked an initial wave of emigration, interacted with within-country travel costs. Our estimates show that emigration substantially increased the local demand for political change, as measured by labor movement membership, strike participation and voting. Emigration also led to de facto political change, increasing welfare expenditures as well as the likelihood of adopting more inclusive political institutions.
Subjects: 
Migration
Political change
Labor mobility
Economic history
JEL: 
D72
J61
P16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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