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Labor Misallocation and Mass Mobilization: Russian Agriculture during the Great War

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  • Paul Castañeda Dower

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

  • Andrei Markevich

    (New Economic School)

Abstract

We exploit a quasi-natural experiment of military draftees in Russia during World War I to examine the effects of a massive, negative labor shock on agricultural production. Employing a novel district-level panel data set, we find that mass mobilization produces a dramatic decrease in cultivated area. Surprisingly, farms with communal land tenure exhibit greater resilience to the labor shock than private farms. The resilience stems from peasants reallocating labor in favor of the commune because of the increased attractiveness of its nonmarket access to land and social insurance. Our results support an institutional explanation of factor misallocation in agriculture.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Castañeda Dower & Andrei Markevich, 2018. "Labor Misallocation and Mass Mobilization: Russian Agriculture during the Great War," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(2), pages 245-259, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:100:y:2018:i:2:p:245-259
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina & Miho, Antonela & Jarotschkin, Alexandra, 2019. "Diffusion of Gender Norms: Evidence from Stalin's Ethnic Deportations," CEPR Discussion Papers 13865, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Jiang, Tangyang & Cao, Chi & Lei, Leyuan & Hou, Jie & Yu, Yang & Jahanger, Atif, 2023. "Temporal and spatial patterns, efficiency losses and impact factors of energy mismatch in China under environmental constraints," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    3. Shuai Qin & Zheying Han & Hong Chen & Haokun Wang & Cheng Guo, 2022. "High-Quality Development of Chinese Agriculture under Factor Misallocation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Irena Grosfeld & Seyhun Orcan Sakalli & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2020. "Middleman Minorities and Ethnic Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms in the Russian Empire," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(1), pages 289-342.
    5. Joshua D. Merfeld, 2023. "Labor elasticities, market failures, and misallocation: Evidence from Indian agriculture," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(5), pages 623-637, September.
    6. Merfeld, Joshua, 2021. "Misallocation and Agricultural Production: Evidence from India," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315914, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Merfeld, Joshua D., 2022. "Labor Elasticities, Market Failures, and Misallocation: Evidence from Indian Agriculture," 96th Annual Conference, April 4-6, 2022, K U Leuven, Belgium 321214, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N54 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • O20 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - General

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