Health, information, and migration
Subtitle: geographic mobility of Union Army veterans, 1860-1880
By: Chulhee Lee.
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11207; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11207.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: United States. Army -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.; Migration, Internal -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Veterans -- Health and hygiene -- United States.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Veterans.
Description: "This paper explores how injuries, sickness, and geographical mobility of Union Army veterans while in service affected their post-service migrations.  Wartime wounds and illnesses significantly diminished the geographical mobility of veterans after the war.  Geographic moves while carrying out military missions had strong positive effects on their post-service geographic mobility.  Geographic moves while in service also influenced the choice of destination among the migrants.  The farther into the South a veteran had traveled while in service, the higher the probability that he would migrate to the South.  Furthermore, these migrants to the South were more likely to settle in a state they had entered while in service.  Increased general knowledge about geographical transfer itself, greater information on distant lands and labor markets, and reduced psychological cost of moving were probably important mechanisms by which prior mobility affected subsequent migration.  I discuss some implications of the results for the elements of self-selection in migration, the roles of different types of information in migration decisions, and the overall impact of the Civil War on geographic mobility"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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