Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Internal Migration and the Diffusion of Schooling in the US

到了世纪末，美国的入学率达到了非常高的水平。该项目研究了国内移民在教育传播中的作用，使用了涵盖南北战争前后美国经济和社会生活许多方面的新颖历史数据。 数据集中记录的信息包括征税财产的价值和税收收入的增加，公立和私立学校的数量，教师和这些学校的学生;按收入来源划分的财务状况;图书馆和报纸印刷的数量;以及支付给不同类型劳动力的普遍工资。利用这些数据，该项目考虑了了解国内移徙如何影响当地学校选择的潜在机制。该项目探讨了来自教育程度较高的州的移民如何影响当地人口的入学率。该项目所依据的概念是，入学率的不平等可以用选择居住在某个县的移民的出身来解释。因此，国内移民是美国学校传播的一个重要渠道。利用详细的历史数据，该项目研究了来自教育程度较高的州的移民改善当地人教育成果的具体渠道。该项目特别关注通过财产税为学校提供资金，以考虑到来自公共系统运作良好的州的移民可以为目的地的学校提供更多的公共资金。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

AbstractBy the late 19th century, the United States achieved very strong school enrollment rates. This project examines the role of internal migration in the spread of education, using novel historical data that covers many aspects of American economic and social life before and after the Civil War. The information recorded in the dataset includes the value of the taxed property and the amounts of tax revenue raised the number of public and private schools, teachers, and pupils in those schools; their finances by revenue source; the number of libraries and newspapers printed; and the prevailing wages paid to different kinds of labor. Utilizing this data, the project considers potential mechanisms to understand how internal migration affected local schooling choices. The project explores how migration from more educated states affect school enrollment rates for the local population. The project builds on the notion that inequality in school enrollments can be explained by the origins of migrants who chose to live in a given county. Accordingly, internal migration was an important channel in the spread of schools in the US. Using detailed historical data, the project examines specific channels through which migrants from more educated states improved the schooling outcomes of the locals. The project particularly focuses on the funding of schools through property taxes to consider that migrants from states with functioning public systems can be instrumental for more public funding for schools in their destinations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.