Overview

Abstract (English)

At the start of the 20th century, high quality Prairie farm land became available and drew Canadians west. Yet despite the rapid pace of western settlement, Canadians continued to move to the U.S. in large numbers. We see this as a large scale sorting by which the Canadianborn relocated within North America to maximize the return on their skills, and in doing so paid little heed to the international border. We merge Canadian and U.S. Census microdata files from 1900 through 1931 to generate a sample of the population of the Canadian-born living in both Canada and the U.S. We quantify the relative odds of Anglo- and FrancoCanadians moving interprovincially and to the U.S., comparing the relative mobility of each group, and tracking changes in mobility over time. Canadians moved to match human capital with available opportunities by region. Those migrating improved their occupational outcomes, and those migrating to the U.S. had the highest outcomes. We also note a shift in the characteristics of French Canadians moving to the U.S. during the 1920s due to the literacy requirement introduced in 1917.

Abstract (French)

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