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Health, Information, and Migration: Geographic Mobility of Union Army Veterans, 1860–1880

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2008

CHULHEE LEE
CHULHEE LEE*
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Economics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. E-mail: chullee@snu.ac.kr.
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Abstract

This article explores how injuries, sickness, and the geographic mobility of Union Army veterans while in service affected their postservice migrations. Wartime wounds and illnesses significantly diminished the geographic mobility of veterans after the war. Geographic moves while carrying out military missions had strong positive effects on their postservice geographic mobility. Geographic moves while in service also influenced the choice of destination among the migrants. 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.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 862 - 899
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2008

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