Full Citation
Title: Displacement, Diversity, and Mobility: Career Impacts of Japanese American Internment
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2022
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Abstract: One of the largest population displacement episodes in the U.S. took place in 1942, when over 110,000 persons of Japanese origin living in the West Coast were forcibly sent to ten internment camps throughout the country. Those affected lost jobs and assets and lived in camps between one and three years. After internment they had to reassess labor market and location choices. Using Census data, camp records, and survey data I study the long-run career consequences of this episode for those affected. Combining information from these three data sources I develop a predictor of a person’s future or past internment based on Census observables. Using a differencein-differences framework I find a positive average effect of internment on earnings in the long run, robust to different control group choices. I consider exposure to socioeconomically diverse peers followed by increased occupational and geographic mobility as likely mechanisms, finding support in the data for both. I do not find evidence of other potential drivers such as increased labor supply or changes in cultural preferences. These findings provide evidence of labor market frictions preventing people from accessing their most productive occupations and locations, how exposure to socioeconomically diverse peers can lower these barriers, and the possibility of overcoming adverse shocks.
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Authors: Arellano-Bover, Jaime
Periodical (Full): The Journal of Economic History
Issue: 1
Volume: 82
Pages: 126-174
Data Collections: IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration, Population Mobility and Spatial Demography, Race and Ethnicity
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