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Title: 'You're in the Army Now': The Human Capital Consequences of World War II

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2012

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Abstract: Educational attainment in the United States increased dramatically during the twentieth century. In the 1940s, World War II temporarily halted the rise in high school and college graduation rates. Many studies document the subsequent increase in college-going among veterans due to the postwar GI Bill, while the potential negative eff ect on the educational attainment of others had been overlooked. This paper shows that World War II led to a large and persistent decline in educational attainment for the cohort of high school age females during the early 1940s. I interpret this finding in light of evidence that many women were forced to leave jobs obtained during wartime and suggest a connection to the timing of convergence in the gender wage gap starting in the 1970s.

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Authors: Jaworski, Taylor

Publisher: University of Arizona

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Gender, Other

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