Immigration and the Diffusion of Technology: The Huguenot Diaspora in Prussia

Erik Hornung

American Economic Review, 2014, vol. 104, issue 1, 84-122

Abstract: This paper analyzes long-term effects of skilled-worker immigration on productivity for the Huguenot migration to Prussia. In 1685, religiously persecuted French Huguenots settled in Brandenburg- Prussia and compensated for population losses due to plagues during the Thirty Years' War. We combine Huguenot immigration lists from 1700 with Prussian firm-level data on the value of inputs and outputs in 1802 in a unique database to analyze the effects of skilled immigration to places with underused economic potential. Exploiting this settlement pattern in an instrumental-variable approach, we find substantial long-term effects of Huguenot settlement on the productivity of textile manufactories.

JEL-codes: J24 J61 L67 N33 N63 O33 O47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.1.84
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (203)

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Working Paper: Immigration and the Diffusion of Technology: The Huguenot Diaspora in Prussia (2011)
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