The (South) American Dream: Mobility and Economic Outcomes of First- and Second-Generation Immigrants in 19th-Century Argentina

I study the mobility and economic outcomes of European immigrants and their children in 19th-century Argentina, the second largest destination country during the Age of Mass Migration. I use new data linking males across censuses and passenger lists of arrivals to Buenos Aires. First-generation immigrants experienced faster occupational upgrading than natives. Occupational mobility was substantial relative to Europe; immigrants holding unskilled occupations upon arrival experienced high rates of occupational upgrading. Second-generation immigrants outperformed the sons of natives in terms of literacy, occupational status and access to property, and experienced higher rates of intergenerational mobility out of unskilled occupations. ∗e-mail: [email protected]. I have benefited from various conversations with Ran Abramitzky, Carolina Biernat, Arun Chandrasekhar, Melanie Morten and Gavin Wright, as well as several participants in the Stanford Economic History seminar. I am also grateful to Enrique Pérez, Mercedes Pérez, Fernanda Righi, Mariana Righi, Lisandro Vaccaro and Maŕıa Fabiana Vaccaro for helping me with data collection. This paper benefited from funding from the Stanford University Economics Department; the Economic History Association through the Exploratory Data and Travel Grant and the Dissertation Fellowship; the Graduate Student Fellowships in International Development through a grant from the Stanford Center for International Development; and the Leonard W. Ely and Shirley R. Ely Graduate Student Fund Fellowship.