Full Citation
Title: Persistence in Industrial Policy Impacts: Evidence from Depression-Era Mississippi
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2017
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Abstract: This paper studies the effects of a large-scale industrial policy implemented in 1930s Mississippi on contemporaneous and modern-day labor market outcomes. Attracted by unprecedented government incentives under Mississippis Balance Agriculture with Industry (BAWI) Program, 13 large manufacturing plants located in the state between 1936 and 1940. Using difference-indifferences and synthetic control matching techniques, I estimate that counties that received these plants experienced an over 15% increase in female labor force participation on average in the short run. Moreover, these effects persisted decades into the future, well after many of the original companies ceased operations in Mississippi. I also find suggestive evidence of an increase in educational attainment among women in counties where BAWI investment occurred. The results highlight the potential for even transitory government interventions to have long-lived effects on labor markets.
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Authors: Freedman, Matthew
Periodical (Full): Journal of Urban Economics
Issue: 1
Volume: 102
Pages: 34-51
Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS, IPUMS Terra
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure
Countries: United States