Description:

Sergio & Chris  

Sergio's talk: 

Title: Crossed by the Border: Economic Assimilation of the First Mexican-Americans

Abstract: In 1848 the United States acquired from Mexico the territory of today's states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Texas. Around 80,000 Mexicans lived in these states at the time and were allowed to stay and offered American citizenship. Most of them --more than 95%, according to historians-- chose to stay in the US. How did this group of individuals assimilate economically to their new homeland? I compare occupational and wealth outcomes of these Mexicans and their descendants to those of native, white born Americans. For both generations, I find a big gap that fails to close as decades pass.

Chris's talk: 

Title: The Origins of the Nitrogen Revolution

Abstract: Starting from the mid-19th century, the first commercial nitrogenous fertilizers were made available in the United Kingdom, a key pillar of subsequent agricultural practice. We present early-stage findings based on a major digitization effort to create the first panel of British agricultural data for the 19th century as well as our proposed empirical strategy and future steps.