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Economic Opportunity on the urban frontier: nativity, work, and wealth in early chicago

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

David W. Galenson
David W. Galenson
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, and Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research.
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Abstract

This article uses evidence drawn from the manuscripts of the 1850 and 1860 federal censuses to investigate the correlates of the wealth of adult males in Chicago. The analysis reveals rapidly increasing wealth with age, a substantial positive effect on wealth of duration of residence in the city, and an absence of any significant impact of nativity on wealth when controlling occupation. Mean wealth rose from well below the national average in 1850 to a level far above the national average in 1860. Together these results suggest that early Chicago was a place of exceptional economic opportunity for settlers.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , September 1991 , pp. 581 - 603
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1991

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