NEW TRENDS IN HUMAN CAPITAL TRANSFER TO NORTH AMERICA? : The case of Swedish migrants, 1860-1923

This master thesis in Economic History explores the human capital transfer embodied in Swedish emigrants migrating to North America, during the period 1860-1923. Previous research on this topic has mainly focused on the second and third generation of Swedish-Americans, but the focus of this paper is on the first generation. The results indicates a high level of human capital transfer for the whole period, but increasing sharply after 1900. The thesis evaluates two different models for signaling human capital transfer, one based on social mobility, and the other on emigration motive. By considering migration motive it has been possible to use source material collected at a single point in time, before emigration taking place, but still knowing that these migrants were moving. The concept of informal human capital extends the analysis and makes it possible to use more source material compared to a situation with only formal human capital.