Understanding the impact of mass migration Tens of millions of people crossed the Atlantic during the age of mass migration, which had a profound social and economic impact on both Europe and America, as well as the migrants themselves. Researchers are combining different sources of data to build a deeper picture of the period, as Professor Imran Rasul explains The period between around and the end of the First World War was marked by mass migration between Europe and the United States, as tens of millions of people crossed the Atlantic to start new lives. This had a profound impact on wider society in both Europe and America, a topic that forms the primary focus of the Migration project. “The project as a whole is about trying to understand the impacts of this mass migration on the migrants themselves, on the receiving economy and on the sending economy, in terms of both economic and social outcomes,” outlines Professor Imran Rasul, the project’s Principal Investigator. Researchers are using administrative records collected from Ellis Island in New York, the main point of entry for migrants to the US. “The records provide information on migrants coming into the US and . In some years we between find that more than a million migrants came into the US, predominantly from Europe. We used that data in a number of different projects,” explains Professor Rasul.
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Migration The Economics of Mass Migration: Theory and Evidence Project Coordinator, Professor Imran Rasul Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration Department of Economics, Drayton House, 30 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AX T: +44 20 7679 5853 E: i.rasul@ucl.ac.uk W: https://www.imranrasul.com/
Administrative records A key part of project centered around looking at how many of the migrants decided to stay in the US, combining the administrative records with census data to build a more complete picture, while researchers have also investigated the impact of changing rules around migration. While in the early part of the period anybody who wanted to travel to the US was able to settle permanently in the country, over time stricter rules came in. “For example, the US introduced a literacy test around the time of the First World War,” says Professor Rasul. This was introduced partly in response to concern about the social and economic impact of low-skilled migrants, while other measures were also introduced. “The US also increased
these changes that the US introduced legislation to try and stem the flow of migrants. Some of these restrictions did have an impact in terms of changing the number of migrants entering the US and their country of origin,” he outlines. Professor Rasul and his colleagues are also investigating how US policy-makers responded to migrants once they were in the country. “There was always a concern that new migrants would somehow be difficult for the US economy and society to absorb,” he outlines. The introduction of compulsory schooling laws in some states, at a time when there were already high levels of voluntary school enrolment, is a major topic of interest. The intention behind this legislation was unlikely to be to target American-born children, given
The project is about trying to understand the impacts of this mass migration on the migrants themselves, on the receiving economy and on the sending economy, in terms of both economic and social outcomes the fees payable at the point of entry. Later in s, a number of pieces of our sample, in the legislation were passed, known as quota acts,” continues Professor Rasul. “These regulated the number of migrants coming from a particular country.” This effectively favoured migrants from countries who had already seen an outflow of people to the US in the early part of the sample period, in particular Germany, Britain, Scandinavia and Ireland. Later on more came from southern Europe, then towards the end of the period there was a higher level of migration from central and eastern Europe, shifts which Professor Rasul says were a factor in later legislative changes. “It was partly in response to
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that voluntary enrolment was already high, so Professor Rasul and his colleagues are exploring a different hypothesis. “Were compulsory schooling laws introduced in order to target incoming migrants? To expose them to American values in American schools and help integrate migrants into American society?” he asks. This would be a means of instilling American values in children and aiding in cultural integration. “We are trying to understand whether the passing of compulsory schooling laws in a given state is related to the country of origin of migrants, and whether that country already had compulsory schooling laws in place or not,” continues Professor Rasul.
Imran Rasul is Professor of Economics at University College London codirector of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and research codirector of the Entrepreneurship Research Group of the International Growth Centre His research interests include labor development and public economics.
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