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Overseas Passenger Fares and Emigration from Germany in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2017

Raymond L. Cohn  and
Simone A. Wegge
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Abstract

Mid-nineteenth-century German immigrants who settled in the United States and other faraway destinations faced the formidable hurdle of crossing an ocean and coming up with the resources to pay for it. Using new data from German emigrant newspapers we provide more concrete information on the fares to various international ports, and how they varied seasonally and by method of transport (sail or steam). We do not observe fares declining in the late 1840s and 1850s. Unskilled German workers could not easily afford such a voyage, providing perspective on why German immigration to the United States was positively self-selected.

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Social Science History , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , Fall 2017 , pp. 393 - 413
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Copyright © Social Science History Association, 2017 

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