IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/22303.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

War and wealth: economic opportunity before and after the Civil War, 1850-1870

Author

Listed:
  • Jaworski, Taylor

Abstract

This study uses two samples of linked adult males to examine wealth accumulation by region and occupation between 1850 and 1870. Consistent with past research, the findings here show that wealth accumulation was substantial in the South in the 1850s and stagnant in the 1860s. The findings also suggest improvement in the wealth position of white-collar professionals and blue-collar workers across the entire period, including the Civil War decade, while farmers suffered in the immediate postbellum period. Finally, the value of slaves in 1860 was positively correlated with wealth in 1870, with implications for the legacy of slavery.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaworski, Taylor, 2009. "War and wealth: economic opportunity before and after the Civil War, 1850-1870," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 22303, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:22303
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/22303/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ransom, Roger & Sutch, Richard, 1975. "The impact of the Civil War and of emancipation on Southern agriculture," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-28, January.
    2. Conley, Timothy G. & Galenson, David W., 1998. "Nativity and Wealth in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Cities," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 468-493, June.
    3. Galenson, David W., 1991. "Economic Opportunity on the urban frontier: nativity, work, and wealth in early chicago," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(3), pages 581-603, September.
    4. Herscovici, Steven, 1998. "Migration and Economic Mobility: Wealth Accumulation and Occupational Change Among Antebellum Migrants and Persisters," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(4), pages 927-956, December.
    5. Wright, Gavin, 1974. "Cotton Competition and the Post-Bellum Recovery of the American South," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(3), pages 610-635, September.
    6. Steckel, Richard H. & Moehling, Carolyn M., 2001. "Rising Inequality: Trends In The Distribution Of Wealth In Industrializing New England," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(1), pages 160-183, March.
    7. Goldin, Claudia D. & Lewis, Frank D., 1975. "The Economic Cost of the American Civil War: Estimates and Implications," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(2), pages 299-326, June.
    8. Haines, Michael R. & Craig, Lee A. & Weiss, Thomas, 2003. "The Short and the Dead: Nutrition, Mortality, and the “Antebellum Puzzle” in the United States," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 382-413, June.
    9. Field, Alexander James, 1978. "Sectoral shift in antebellum Massachusetts: A reconsideration," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 146-171, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. repec:ehl:wpaper:22303 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Chulhee Lee, 2003. "Health and Wealth Accumulation: Evidence from Nineteenth-Century America," NBER Working Papers 10035, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Di Matteo, Livio, 2013. "Women, wealth and economic change: An assessment of the impact of women's property law in Wentworth County, Ontario, 1872–1927," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 285-307.
    4. Livio Di Matteo, 2008. "Wealth accumulation motives: evidence from the probate records of Ontario, 1892 and 1902," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 2(2), pages 143-171, July.
    5. Stewart, James I., 2006. "Migration to the agricultural frontier and wealth accumulation, 1860-1870," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 547-577, October.
    6. Livio Di Matteo, 2016. "Wealth Distribution and the Canadian Middle Class: Historical Evidence and Policy Implications," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 42(2), pages 132-151, June.
    7. Stewart, James I., 2012. "Migration to U.S. frontier cities and job opportunity, 1860–1880," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 528-542.
    8. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2005. "The New York Irish in the 1850s : locked in by poverty?," Open Access publications 10197/489, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    9. Philipp Ager & Leah Boustan & Katherine Eriksson, 2021. "The Intergenerational Effects of a Large Wealth Shock: White Southerners after the Civil War," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(11), pages 3767-3794, November.
    10. Dupont, Brandon & Rosenbloom, Joshua L., 2018. "The economic origins of the postwar southern elite," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 119-131.
    11. Brian A'Hearn & John Komlos, 2015. "The Decline in the Nutritional Status of the U.S. Antebellum Population at the Onset of Modern Economic Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 5691, CESifo.
    12. Libecap, Gary D. & Hansen, Zeynep Kocabiyik, 2002. "“Rain Follows The Plow” And Dryfarming Doctrine: The Climate Information Problem And Homestead Failure In The Upper Great Plains, 1890–1925," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(1), pages 86-120, March.
    13. Lee, Chulhee, 2008. "Health, Information, and Migration: Geographic Mobility of Union Army Veterans, 1860–1880," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(3), pages 862-899, September.
    14. B. Zorina Khan, 2015. "The Impact of War on Resource Allocation: 'Creative Destruction' and the American Civil War," NBER Working Papers 20944, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Cosgel, Metin M. & Andrew, Bradley B., 2001. "Membership in a Religious Commune: The Shakers, 1850-1870," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 273-295, April.
    16. Canaday, Neil, 2008. "The accumulation of property by southern blacks and whites: Individual-level evidence from a South Carolina cotton county, 1910-1919," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 51-75, January.
    17. Walker, Thomas R., 2000. "Economic Opportunity on the Urban Frontier: Wealth and Nativity in Early San Francisco," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 258-277, July.
    18. Craft, Erik D. & Monks, James, 2008. "The postbellum demand for cotton revisited," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 199-206, April.
    19. Joseph H. Davis & Christopher Hanes & Paul W. Rhode, 2009. "Harvests and Business Cycles in Nineteenth-Century America," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1675-1727.
    20. John A Tatom, 2022. "Is there a new case for reparations?," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 395-408, June.
    21. Maloney, Thomas N., 2001. "Migration and Economic Opportunity in the 1910s: New Evidence on African-American Occupational Mobility in the North," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 147-165, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

    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:ehl:lserod:22303. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.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.