To migrate or not to migrate: the effect of institutional reforms on immigration decisions of Ottoman citizens to the US

Hanedar A. O., Hanedar E. Y., Uysal S., Yigit Y., Yigit F. İ.

JOURNAL OF ETHNIC AND MIGRATION STUDIES, cilt.49, sa.7, ss.1705-1722, 2023 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 49 Sayı: 7
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/1369183x.2022.2064841
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF ETHNIC AND MIGRATION STUDIES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online, EBSCO Education Source, Educational research abstracts (ERA), Geobase, Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Social services abstracts, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1705-1722
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Ottoman Empire, migration, reforms, ethnicity, conscription, political instability, INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, EMIGRATION, AMERICA
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

In the age of mass migration, the US became economically crucial with the development of Atlantic trade and attracted labour flows from the rest of the world. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire was suffering severe economic and political problems. The Ottoman citizens of various ethnic origins, such as Turks, Jews, Armenians and Arabs, moved to different countries, including the US, for economic and political reasons. This paper examines the effect of institutional reforms in the Ottoman Empire during the Second Constitutional Era on immigration decisions of different ethnic groups to the US. Data come from the US census data of IPUMS (the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series) for 1910. The empirical results show that the institutional reforms could reduce emigration from the Ottoman Empire through granting additional civil liberties. However, this effect works heterogeneously for different ethnic groups. This result points out the importance of institutional improvements in home countries on reducing migration outflows.