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Hierarchies and the Survival of Prisoners of War During World War II

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  • Clifford G. Holderness

    (Finance Department, Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467)

  • Jeffrey Pontiff

    (Finance Department, Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467)

Abstract

Using a comprehensive database of American prisoners of war during World War II, we find that survival from captivity generally declines as the hierarchy of a prisoner's group becomes steeper or more closely matches the military's established hierarchy. There is no evidence that survival is enhanced by being held in more hierarchical groups. One interpretation of these findings that is consistent with survivors' accounts is that the military's hierarchy was too inflexible to adapt from the battlefield to captivity and this inflexibility impeded trading among the prisoners. This paper was accepted by Brad Barber, finance.

Suggested Citation

  • Clifford G. Holderness & Jeffrey Pontiff, 2012. "Hierarchies and the Survival of Prisoners of War During World War II," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(10), pages 1873-1886, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:58:y:2012:i:10:p:1873-1886
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1120.1532
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jens Leth Hougaard & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero & Lars Peter Østerdal, 2022. "Optimal Management of Evolving Hierarchies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(8), pages 6024-6038, August.
    2. Holderness, Clifford G. & Pontiff, Jeffrey, 2016. "Shareholder nonparticipation in valuable rights offerings: New findings for an old puzzle," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 252-268.

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