Intercounty Labour Mobility during the Industrial Revolution: Evidence from Australian Transportation Records

Stephen Nicholas and Peter R Shergold

Oxford Economic Papers, 1987, vol. 39, issue 4, 624-40

Abstract: This paper examines a new data source, the indents which accompanied convicts transported to New South Wales, Australia, between 1817 and 1839 provide socioeconomic variables on the skills, literacy, conjugal status, occupations, sex, and age of 10,151 men and women. Using this data, a logit model is specified and tested for the decision to migrate during the industrial revolution period. Internal migration was found to be a self-selecting process, with movers being economically advantaged in terms of their human capital. Long distance migration (in contrast to short distance) depe nded on wage differentials and job opportunities between counties and on job-search costs. While labor markets showed regional biases, both aggregate and regional models indicated that workers heeded labor-market signals and maximized their investments in human capital by moving. Copyright 1987 by Royal Economic Society.

Date: 1987
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