American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Immigration and the Diffusion of Technology: The Huguenot Diaspora in Prussia
American Economic Review
vol. 104,
no. 1, January 2014
(pp. 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.Citation
Hornung, Erik. 2014. "Immigration and the Diffusion of Technology: The Huguenot Diaspora in Prussia." American Economic Review, 104 (1): 84–122. DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.1.84Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J61 Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
- L67 Other Consumer Nondurables
- N33 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: Pre-1913
- N63 Economic History: Manufacturing and Construction: Europe: Pre-1913
- O33 Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
- O47 Measurement of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence