The economic modeling of migration and consumption patterns in the English-speaking world

Abstract

Recent literature suggests that there was a marked intensification of consumerism in the Anglophone world in the latter half of the nineteenth century, though little systematic empirical evidence of the phenomenon or its origins has to date been provided. This paper develops an economic model to redress this situation. Using a fixed-effects panel data model, it shows that the enduring racial ties, cultural affinity and sense of connectedness of British emigrants in Australasia, Canada and the US between 1879 and 1913, as evidenced by their remittance flows, were reflected in a strong preference for consuming British products.