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MOVING BEYOND "RAGS TO RICHES"

Data Analysis Papers

Data Analysis Papers: 

  1. Predict how an Irish immigrant’s occupation might correlate to his or her ability to save.  Then compare the median (or average) savings of several of the following sets of workers: a) day laborers to carpenters and/or tailors; b) porters to carpenters and/or tailors; c) day laborers to clerks; d) carpenters to clerks; e) peddlers to clerks; f) peddlers to business owners; g) peddlers to grocers; h) saloonkeepers to other business owners. How do the results compare to your predictions?  What do the results tell us about Irish immigrant life in New York in the 1850s?
  2. How does the median (or average) savings of Irish immigrants who arrived in America before the start of the potato famine in 1846 compare to those who arrived after that date? Does the difference between the two groups change if you control for place of origin within Ireland? Or control for occupation?  Or for the depositors’ age? What factors account for your findings?
  3. Which counties of Ireland contributed the most depositors to the Emigrant Savings Bank’s depositor rolls? Which contributed the fewest? What might account for these differences?
  4. How do the occupations of Irish immigrants among the Emigrant Savings Bank’s customers compare with those of the bank’s other immigrant depositors and its native-born customers? How did these differences affect the ability of the Irish to save?
  5. How do the savings of Irish immigrant women compare to those of Irish-born men?  How does it compare to that of non-Irish women? What factors might account for these difference?
Data Analysis Papers