IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cge/wacage/387.html

World War II and Black Economic Progress

Author

Listed:
  • Ferrara, Andreas

    (University of Pittsburgh)

Abstract

During the 1940s, a substantial share of Southern Black men moved from low-skilled to much better paying semi-skilled jobs. Using newly digitized military data, I show that counties with higher World War II casualty rates among semi-skilled White soldiers saw an increase in the share of semi-skilled Black workers. These deaths opened new employment opportunities for Black Southerners and, together with learning effects by employers, can explain up to 22.6% of the occupational upgrading at mid-century. I provide evidence that the casualty-induced labor shortages reduced racial barriers to entry, leading to a positive selection of Black workers into semi-skilled employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferrara, Andreas, 2018. "World War II and Black Economic Progress," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 387, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:387
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/387-2018_ferrara.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Turner, Sarah & Bound, John, 2003. "Closing the Gap or Widening the Divide: The Effects of the G.I. Bill and World War II on the Educational Outcomes of Black Americans," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(1), pages 145-177, March.
    2. Iris Kesternich & Bettina Siflinger & James P. Smith & Joachim K. Winter, 2014. "The Effects of World War II on Economic and Health Outcomes across Europe," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(1), pages 103-118, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Collins, William J. & Zimran, Ariell, 2025. "World War II service and the GI Bill: New evidence on selection and veterans’ outcomes from linked census records," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    2. Karger, Ezra & Wray, Anthony, 2024. "The Black–white lifetime earnings gap," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    3. Alexander J. Field, 2023. "The decline of US manufacturing productivity between 1941 and 1948," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(4), pages 1163-1190, November.
    4. Patrick Bayer & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Ellora Derenoncourt, 2025. "Racial Inequality in the Labor Market," Working Papers 343, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    5. Barrera, Sergio E. & Ferrara, Andreas & Fishback, Price V. & Heggeness, Misty L., 2025. "The impact of World War II Army service on income and mobility in the 1960s by ethnoracial group," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Victor Gay, 2017. "The Legacy of the Missing Men: The Long-Run Impact of World War I on Female Labor Force Participation," 2017 Papers pga905, Job Market Papers.
    7. Nancy Qian & Marco Tabellini, 2021. "Racial Discrimination and the Social Contract: Evidence from U.S. Army Enlistment during WWII," NBER Working Papers 29482, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Andreas Ferrara & Price Fishback, 2024. "Discrimination, Migration, and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from World War I," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(5), pages 1201-1219, September.
    9. Lleras-Muney, Adriana & Morgan, Tommy & Price, Joseph & Wygal, William, 2025. "The effect of World War II spending and army service on the lifespan of the Black population," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    10. Daniel Aaronson & Mark Borgschulte & Sunny Liu & Bhashkar Mazumder, 2024. "Schooling and Political Activism in the Early Civil Rights Era," Working Paper Series WP 2024-06, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    11. Gianluca Russo, 2018. "World War I and the Rise of Fascism in Italy," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-341, Boston University - Department of Economics, revised May 2020.
    12. Kukic, Leonard, 2019. "The last Yugoslavs: ethnic diversity, national identity and civil war," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102323, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Victor Gay, 2023. "The Intergenerational Transmission of World War I on Female Labour," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2303-2333.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anne McDaniel & Thomas DiPrete & Claudia Buchmann & Uri Shwed, 2011. "The Black Gender Gap in Educational Attainment: Historical Trends and Racial Comparisons," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(3), pages 889-914, August.
    2. Clémentine Garrouste & Mathilde Godard, 2016. "The lasting health impact of leaving school in a bad economy : Britons in the 1970s recession," Post-Print hal-01408637, HAL.
    3. Braun, Sebastian T. & Stuhler, Jan, 2024. "The economic consequences of being widowed by war: A life-cycle perspective," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    4. Hai-Anh H. Dang & Trung X. Hoang & Ha Nguyen, 2021. "The Long-Run and Gender-Equalizing Impacts of School Access: Evidence from the First Indochina War," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(1), pages 453-484.
    5. Antoine Bozio & Clémentine Garrouste & Elsa Perdrix, 2021. "Impact of later retirement on mortality: Evidence from France," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 1178-1199, May.
    6. Bruno Arpino & Pierluigi Conzo & Francesco Salustri, 2022. "I am a survivor, keep on surviving: early-life exposure to conflict and subjective survival probabilities in adult life," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 471-517, April.
    7. Conti, Gabriella & Poupakis, Stavros & Ekamper, Peter & Bijwaard, Govert E. & Lumey, L.H., 2024. "Severe prenatal shocks and adolescent health: Evidence from the Dutch Hunger Winter," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    8. Mehmet Balcilar & Jeffrey B. Nugent & Jiahui Xu, 2022. "Adversities in Syria and their relation to their physical and mental health conditions as Syrian refugees in Turkey," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 69(1), pages 37-59, February.
    9. Molina, Teresa & Rivadeneyra, Ivan, 2021. "The schooling and labor market effects of eliminating university tuition in Ecuador," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    10. Shoji, Masahiro, 2020. "Early-Life Circumstances and Adult Locus of Control: Evidence from 46 Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 99987, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Susan Dynarski & Judith Scott-Clayton & Mark Wiederspan, 2013. "Simplifying Tax Incentives and Aid for College: Progress and Prospects," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 27, pages 161-201, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Enrique Acosta & Alain Gagnon & Nadine Ouellette & Robert R. Bourbeau & Marília R. Nepomuceno & Alyson A. van Raalte, 2020. "The boomer penalty: excess mortality among baby boomers in Canada and the United States," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2020-003, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    13. Bharati, Tushar, 2022. "The long shadow of the Kargil War: The effect of early-life stress on education," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    14. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Olivieri, Elisabetta & Triviza, Eleftheria, 2024. "Eating habits, food consumption, and health: The role of early life experiences," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    15. Rabbitt, Matthew P. & Smith, Michael D., "undated". "Food Insecurity Among Working-Age Veterans," USDA Miscellaneous 311332, United States Department of Agriculture.
    16. Till Stowasser & Florian Heiss & Daniel McFadden & Joachim Winter, 2014. "Understanding the SES Gradient in Health Among the Elderly: The Role of Childhood Circumstances," NBER Chapters, in: Discoveries in the Economics of Aging, pages 187-219, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Travers Barclay Child & Elena Nikolova, 2020. "War and social attitudes," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 37(2), pages 152-171, March.
    18. Schaub, Max, 2024. "Violent conflict and the demand for healthcare: How armed conflict reduces trust, instills fear, and increases child mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 359(C).
    19. Sarah Gibney & Mark E. McGovern & Erika Sabbath, 2013. "Social Relationships in Later Life: The Role of Childhood Circumstances," Working Papers 201319, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    20. Nicole Halmdienst & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2013. "Long-Run Effects of Childhood Shocks on Health in Late Adulthood: Evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe," NRN working papers 2013-01, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J - Labor and Demographic Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:387. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jane Snape (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dewaruk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.