Immigrants' Genes: Genetic Diversity and Economic Development in the US

Philipp Ager and Markus Brückner

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: We examine the effect of genetic diversity on economic development in the United States. Our estimation strategy exploits that immigrants from different countries of origin differed in their genetic diversity and that these immigrants settled in different regions. Based on a sample of over 2250 counties, we find that increases in genetic diversity of US counties that arose due to immigration during the 19th century had a significant positive effect on US counties' economic development. We also detect a significant positive long-run effect of 19th century immigrants' genetic diversity on contemporaneous measures of income.

Keywords: Economic Growth; Genetic Diversity; Immigration; Melting Pot (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J11 O51 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-12-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-his and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Immigrants' Genes: Genetic Diversity and Economics Development in the US (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:51906

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