Success of Migration The effect of individual and family characteristics on the success of migrating in five Dutch provinces

Abstract

In the 19th century a lot of factors can influence one’s occupational status and the inequalities that result from it. Migrating could solve these inequalities and could help someone obtaining a different occupational status. However, even moving to another area can not always withhold the factors that are determined in someone’s youth. In this study I investigate the influence of ascribed characteristics on the success of migration. The dataset GENLIAS with approximately 470.000 grooms is used to analyse different characteristics (sibling size, birth order and the influence of the occupational status of the father) on the effect of migration on occupational status. I find that the effect of sibling size weakens the main effect when growing up in a larger family. The other characteristics do also have an effect on the success of migration.