Full Citation
Title: The long-run effects of childhood exposure to market access shocks: Evidence from the US railroad network expansion
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2024
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2022.101503
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Abstract: In this paper, I use the expansion of the US railroad network from 1900 to 1910 and the resulting spatial variation in increased market access to investigate whether economic shocks that occur during childhood have long-run ramifications on later-life outcomes, and the channels through which such effects manifest. I link individuals across the 1900, 1910, and 1940 full-count US Censuses and incorporate an instrumental variable strategy to help isolate the causal effect of market access. I find that, in the short run, sons are less likely to be literate and have more siblings. In the long-run, these sons then become less likely to be well-educated and earn lower incomes. The results of this paper shed light on the mechanisms through which railroad-induced market access and other economic shocks during childhood can impact individuals even in later life.
Url: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2022.101503
User Submitted?: Yes
Authors: Chan, Jeff
Periodical (Full): Explorations in Economic History
Issue: 14
Volume: 91
Pages: 101503
Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data
Topics: Education, Fertility and Mortality, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Population Mobility and Spatial Demography, Work, Family, and Time
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