The American Frontier: Technology versus Immigration

Guillaume Vandenbroucke

No 7, Economie d'Avant Garde Research Reports from Economie d'Avant Garde

Abstract: What drove western population growth in the U.S. during the 19th century? The facts are: (i) Natural increase was higher in the West than in the East; and (ii) in the early stages of the settlement process, net migration could account for up to 80% of population growth in some regions. A general equilibrium model is proposed, with three ingredients: endogenous fertility, investment in land, and migration. The relative abundance of land in the West promotes higher fertility. The model is simulated. It accounts well for the time-series decomposition of population growth between migration and fertility.

Keywords: Population growth; migration; fertility; westward expansion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E1 J1 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2004-04
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Journal Article: The American Frontier: Technology versus Immigration (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eag:rereps:7

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