Description:

Joao Tampellini (Vanderbilt):“Safer at Home? Migration Response to Violence at the Destination.”

Roma Poberegski (Kellogg): “The effect of TMI on the electric grid.” 

Title: Safer at Home? Migration Responses to Violence at the Destination

Abstract: Over 50 Italian immigrants were killed by lynching mobs in the United States during the Age of Mass Migration. This paper studies the effects of lynchings against Italians on migration flows, selection, and destination choice. I find that affected provinces sent 37% fewer migrants to the United States, despite not reducing their overall migration rate. I find suggestive evidence that such effects are concentrated in provinces with strong migrant networks as well as access to international newspapers. In the U.S., I find that Italian immigrants substitute away from ports other than New York and become less likely to live in lynching locations.

Title: The effect of TMI on the electric grid Or: how we did not learn to stop worrying and love nuclear power

Abstract: With the goal of 1000 nuclear power plants by the year 2000, the US was on the path to energy independence. However, the 1979 Three Mile Island accident turned public opinion against nuclear energy and spelled decades of stagnation for the industry. We show that the accident both halted the growth of the US reactor fleet, and stifled innovation in nuclear physics. We propose a mechanism by which accumulated scientific knowledge determines the capacity of nuclear reactors, and find that some 55 billion tons of CO2 emissions, 2.3 million premature deaths, and 14 trillion USD in health costs could have been avoided, had we displaced fossil fuels with nuclear power.