1994/12/01 by Farley Grubb · 51 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Immigration #Economics #Political science #Demographic economics #Law
paper · doi:10.1017/s0022050700015497
published in The Journal of Economic History 54(4), 794-824 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 1994/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Europeans stopped using servitude to finance passage to America sometime in the early nineteenth century, but exactly when and why immigrant servitude disappeared is a mystery. Hypotheses abound, but no consensus has emerged nor have scholars tested hypotheses. In this study, quantitative evidence for the final sixty years of immigrant servitude establishes when and why it disappeared. Servitude did not end because of insufficient demand, legal restrictions, or declines in passage fares. It ended because superior methods of financing migration developed. Chance historical events, however, determined the exact timing of the end.