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Title: Transitory Income Shocks Made Permanent: The Plight of Farmers in the US Cotton South 1910-30

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2018

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Abstract: Black men born in the US Cotton South during the early twentieth century earned fifty percent less than their white counterparts. In this paper, I examine how transitory economic fluctuations effect the employment choices of farmers. Using US Census data, I find a negative correlation between wage work and cotton production for black farmers. The employment behavior of white households is unaffected by changes in cotton production. The results are consistent with black farmers using wage work as a coping mechanism in response to declining household incomes. The mechanism correlates with lower investments in human capital.

Url: http://www.sjsu.edu/economics/events/candidate/paper_Lombardi.pdf

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Authors: Lombardi, Paul

Publisher: University of California, Davis

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity

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