THE U.S. WESTWARD EXPANSION* |
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| Authors: | Guillaume Vandenbroucke |
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| Institution: | 1. University of Southern California, U.S.A.;2. This is a revised version of the second chapter of my dissertation submitted to the University of Rochester. I am very thankful to Jeremy Greenwood for his support and guidance. I am also indebted to the editor and two anonymous referees for advice that improved the paper substantially. Finally, I would like to thank Mark Bils, Stanley Engerman, and participants in seminars at the University of Pennsylvania, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Southern California, the University of Montreal, the University of California Riverside, and the 2003 Society for Economic Dynamics. |
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| Abstract: | The U.S. economic development in the 19th century was characterized by the westward movement of population and the accumulation of productive land in the West. This article presents a model of migration and land improvement to identify the quantitatively important forces driving these phenomena. The conclusion is that the decrease in transportation costs induced the westward migration, whereas population growth was responsible for the investment in productive land. |
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