The Swedish Exodus: determinants of emigration from Sweden to USA, 1880s–1900s.

The main issue in my research is why individuals and families in Sweden decided to emigrate to North America during the late 1800s and early 1900s. More specifically there are three empiric questions:

1. How can we explain the long-term decline, and regional variations, in the Swedish emigration rates?
2. What influence on an individual’s propensity to emigrate to America did different factors as household structure, socio-economic conditions and migration history within the family have?
3. In what way did the emigrant agents affect moving costs and how can this be related to the general structure of emigration and the prerequisites for individual emigration decisions?

Doctoral student: Anna-Maria Eurenius
Supervisor: Christer Lundh
Assistant supervisor: Stefan Öberg