The Local Effects of the First Golden Age of Globalization : Evidence from American Ports, 1870-1900

This paper uses digitized U.S. trade flows data at the customs district level from 1870 to 1900 to investigate whether trade shocks had an effect on the size and composition of U.S. ports' populations and economic activity. I find that trade increased districts' populations, driven principally by growth in urban populations. Manufacturing activity also increased, with output and the number of establishments growing with trade. Conversely, I find that agricultural farmland and the number of farms decrease in trade-impacted ports. These results dissipate rapidly with distance, however, as counties adjacent to ports do not see similar gains from trade booms at nearby ports. My results imply that trade was a contributing factor to the structural transformation of America's economy during the First Golden Age of Globalization