Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Forthcoming
  • Article
  • Journal of Economic History

Happily Ever After: Immigration, Natives' Marriage and Fertility

By: Michela Carlana and Marco Tabellini
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

We study the effects of immigration on natives’ marriage, fertility, and family formation across U.S. cities between 1910 and 1930. Using a shift-share design, we find that natives living in cities that received more immigrants were more likely to marry, have children, and leave the parental house earlier. Our evidence suggests that immigration increased native men’s employment, thereby raising the supply of native “marriageable men”. We consider alternative channels—such as changes in sex ratios, natives’ cultural reactions, and economic competition faced by native women—and conclude that none of them, alone, can explain our results.

Keywords

Immigration; Demographics; History; Employment

Citation

Carlana, Michela, and Marco Tabellini. "Happily Ever After: Immigration, Natives' Marriage and Fertility." Journal of Economic History (forthcoming). (Winner of European Economic Association Young Economist Award, 2018. Featured in HBS Working Knowledge.)
  • Read Now

About The Author

Marco E. Tabellini

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • July 2025
    • Review of Economic Studies

    Economic Integration and the Transmission of Democracy

    By: Marco Tabellini and Giacomo Magistretti
    • 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Extractive Taxation and the French Revolution

    By: Tommaso Giommoni, Gabriel Loumeau and Marco Tabellini
    • January 2025
    • Faculty Research

    South Africa: Growth and Inequality

    By: Marco Tabellini, Marlous van Waijenburg and Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon
More from the Authors
  • Economic Integration and the Transmission of Democracy By: Marco Tabellini and Giacomo Magistretti
  • Extractive Taxation and the French Revolution By: Tommaso Giommoni, Gabriel Loumeau and Marco Tabellini
  • South Africa: Growth and Inequality By: Marco Tabellini, Marlous van Waijenburg and Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.