Join us for this years Epstein Lecture which will be delivered by Philipp Ager.

The 1920s border closure is one of the most fundamental changes to United States immigration policy in the past century. In the early 20th century, European immigrants faced few restrictions for entry into the US and close to one million immigrants arrived on the nation's shores each year. This era of open immigration ended in the 1920s with a series of increasingly restrictive immigration quotas, eventually limiting entry from affected countries to 150,000 a year. Professor Ager will discuss the socio-economic consequences this policy had for the US population at that time, and what lessons can be learned from it.

Meet our speaker and chair

Philipp Ager is an economic historian and applied microeconomist, whose research interest is the historical development of Europe and the United States, with particular focus on the development of the American economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Patrick Wallis (@phwallis) is Professor of Economic History at LSE. His research explores the economic, social and medical history of Britain and Europe from the 16th to 18th century.

More about this event

The Department of Economic History (@LSEEcHist) iis one of the world’s leading centres for research and teaching in economic history. It is home to a huge breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise ranging for the medieval period to the current century.

The Epstein Lecture Series was established in 2008 in memory of Professor Stephan (Larry) Epstein to showcase the work of up-and-coming academics in the field of economic history.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEEcHist

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from The Effects of Immigration Restrictions on the Economy.

A video of this event is available to watch at The Effects of Immigration Restrictions on the Economy.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.