Full Citation

Title: Refugees from Dust and Shrinking Land: Tracking the Dust Bowl Migrants

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2018

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.1017/S0022050718000591

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: We construct longitudinal data from U.S. census records to study the economics of the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s. Most of our findings contradict long-standing perceptions. While migration rates were high relative to elsewhere in the United States, they were similar to migration rates from the region in the 1920s. Relative to other occupations, farmers were the least likely to move. Furthermore, migrants from the Dust Bowl were not exceptionally likely to move to California. Finally, there was negligible migrant selectivity, and migration was not associated with long-lasting negative labor market outcomes; indeed, for farmers, the gains from migration were positive.

Url: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022050718000591/type/journal_article

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Long, Jason; Siu, Henry

Periodical (Full): The Journal of Economic History

Issue: 04

Volume: 78

Pages: 1001-1033

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration, Other

Countries: