Robert Franz Foerster

Bio: Robert Franz Foerster is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Emigration. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 17 citations.

Education Performance: Was It All Determined 100 Years Ago? Evidence From São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract: This paper deals with institutional persistence in long-term economic development. We investigate the historical record of education in one of the fastest growing and most unequal societies in the twentieth century – the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Based on historical data from an agricultural census and education statistics, we assess the role played by factors such as land concentration, immigration and type of economic activity in determining supply and demand of education during the early twentieth century, and to what degree these factors help explain current educational performance and income levels. We find a positive and enduring effect of the presence of foreign-born immigrants on the supply of public instruction, as well as a negative effect of land concentration. Immigrant farm-laborers established their own community schools, and pressured for public funding for those schools or for public schools. The effects of early adoption of public instruction can be detected more than one hundred years later in the form of better test scores and higher income per capita. These results are suggestive of an additional mechanism generating inequality across regions: the places that received immigration from countries with an established public education system benefited from an earlier adoption of the revolutionary idea of public education.

From Migrant to Millionaire: the Story of the Italian-American in New Orleans, 1880-1910 (Louisiana).

Abstract: This study explores a history of the Italian immigrants in the New Orleans area between the years 1880-1910. It traces their reasons for coming to the United States, the difficulties faced in assimilation, along with their social, religious, intellectual, political and eco­ nomic developments. Firstand second-generation Italians were per­ sonally interviewed in depth, and surveys were given to approximately 186 persons of various Italian societies throughout the defined geo­ graphical area. Both the content and the source of respondents' opinions are investigated and explored to discover what correlation existed between the written and the oral explanations. In most re­ spects, no significant differences developed. A chronic economic problem existed in Southern Italy, prompting large numbers of people to emigrate. The state of Louisiana, in co­ operation with steamship lines and important sugar cane planters, took advantage of the situation and attempted to gain the Italians as workers. Although Italians constituted the largest ethnic group to come to Louisiana during the period, the figures initially did not reflect the impact made on the economic life of the New Orleans area. Once here the immigrants accepted any menial task in an effort to better their position. Eventually some immigrants proved successful and moved into profitable businesses, such as wholesale fruit and vegetable dealer­ ships, furniture and hotel ownerships, and real estate development. Although not all of the Italians who landed in New Orleans re­ mained in the city, those who did slowly developed into a large segment of the business community. Language difficulties posed some barriers,