Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: The Warring Forties: New Evidence on the Economic Consequences of World War II

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

World War II was a significant event for the US economy, particularly for postwar economic and social policy. The war years saw dramatic changes in the economy; some fueled by previous trends and others a creation of the war years. Following World War II, leading economics and law journals took up the question of whether the glut of resources left over from the war years would be an obstacle to recovery and growth. More recently, Field (2011) has suggested revisions that place the 1920s and 30s ahead of World War II in terms of technological progress and total factor productivity growth. This research project addresses hitherto unanswered questions about the war years and subsequent allocation (or misallocation) of resources that resulted from mobilization. The first part of the project considers the war's effect on the educational attainment of the school age cohort in the early 1940s and their subsequent labor market outcomes. Earlier research highlighted the GI Bill's positive effect on the educational attainment of veterans, while mobilization's effect on the school age cohort was potentially negative. The second part focuses on the connection between wartime labor market institutions, the surge in postwar internal migration, and the Great Compression. The final part studies the causes of postwar productivity growth in industries that were, in different ways, caught up in the mobilization effort. By studying some of the inputs into the process of economic change and growth, each chapter pushes us toward a better understanding of a bigger question: How did mobilization for World War II affect postwar economic growth?