Neighborhood Effects on the School Attendance of Irish Immigrants' Sons in Boston and Chicago in 1860

Evidence drawn from the manuscripts of the 1860 federal census of population reveals that whereas living in a poor immigrant neighborhood in Boston reduced the probability that the son of an Irish immigrant would attend school, in Chicago living in a poor immigrant neighborhood increased that probability. This difference may have resulted from differences in the structure of the two cities' markets for education: in Boston, immigrants faced discrimination from a public school monopoly, whereas in Chicago immigrants benefited from competition between public and parochial schools.