Immigration and the Diffusion of Technology: The Huguenot Diaspora in Prussia
American Economic Review · 2014 · Volume 104 · Issue 1
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.
Keywords
Human Capital, Skills, Occupational Choice, Labor Productivity, Geographic Labor Mobility, Immigrant Workers, Other Consumer Nondurables, Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: Pre-1913, Economic History: Manufacturing and Construction: Europe: Pre-1913, Technological Change: Choices and Consequences, Diffusion Processes, Measurement of Economic Growth, Aggregate Productivity, Cross-Country Output Convergence
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.