scholarly journals Long-run Impacts of Agricultural Shocks on Educational Attainment: Evidence from the Boll Weevil

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Baker ◽  
John Blanchette ◽  
Katherine Eriksson
2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-174
Author(s):  
Richard B. Baker ◽  
John Blanchette ◽  
Katherine Eriksson

The boll weevil spread across the South from 1892 to 1922 with devastating effect on cotton cultivation. The resulting shift away from this child labor–intensive crop lowered the opportunity cost of school attendance. We investigate the insect’s long-run effect on educational attainment using a sample of adults from the 1940 census linked back to their childhood census records. Both white and black children who were young (ages 4 to 9) when the weevil arrived saw increased educational attainment by 0.24 to 0.36 years. Our results demonstrate the potential for conflict between child labor in agriculture and educational attainment.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall K. Q. Akee ◽  
William E. Copeland ◽  
Gordon Keeler ◽  
Adrian Angold ◽  
E. Jane Costello

We examine the role an exogenous increase in household income, due to a government transfer unrelated to household characteristics, plays in children's long-run outcomes. Children in affected households have higher levels of education in their young adulthood and a lower incidence of criminality for minor offenses. Effects differ by initial household poverty status. An additional $4,000 per year for the poorest households increases educational attainment by one year at age 21, and reduces the chances of committing a minor crime by 22 percent for 16 and 17 year olds. Our evidence suggests improved parental quality is a likely mechanism for the change. (JEL D14, H23, I32, I38, J13)


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 663-674
Author(s):  
Deepti Singh ◽  
Shruti Shastri

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the nexus among public expenditure allocated to education, educational attainment at secondary level and unemployment rate in India for the period 1987–2017.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) bound testing approach suggested by Pesaran et al. (2001) to find the long-run relationship among the variables. The causal linkages are investigated through block exogeneity test based on vector error correction model.FindingsThe empirical results indicate that educational attainment proxied by gross enrolment ratio at secondary level of education negatively affects unemployment rate in long run as well as in short run. However, public expenditure on education is ineffective in influencing both educational attainment and unemployment rate.Originality/valueThe study is the first empirical effort to identify the causal nexus among public expenditure on education, educational attainment and unemployment in the context of India.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2019-0396


2019 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 382-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Sequeira ◽  
Nathan Nunn ◽  
Nancy Qian

Abstract We study the effects of European immigration to the U.S. during the Age of Mass Migration (1850–1920) on economic prosperity. Exploiting cross-county variation in immigration that arises from the interaction of fluctuations in aggregate immigrant flows and of the gradual expansion of the railway network, we find that counties with more historical immigration have higher income, less poverty, less unemployment, higher rates of urbanization, and greater educational attainment today. The long-run effects seem to capture the persistence of short-run benefits, including greater industrialization, increased agricultural productivity, and more innovation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (5) ◽  
pp. 1430-1463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha O. Becker ◽  
Irena Grosfeld ◽  
Pauline Grosjean ◽  
Nico Voigtländer ◽  
Ekaterina Zhuravskaya

We study the long-run effects of forced migration on investment in education. After World War II, millions of Poles were forcibly uprooted from the Kresy territories of eastern Poland and resettled (primarily) in the newly acquired Western Territories, from which the Germans were expelled. We combine historical censuses with newly collected survey data to show that, while there were no pre-WWII differences in educational attainment, Poles with a family history of forced migration are significantly more educated today than other Poles. These results are driven by a shift in preferences away from material possessions toward investment in human capital. (JEL I25, I26, J24, N34, R23)


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 797-815
Author(s):  
Olugbenga Onafowora ◽  
Oluwole Owoye

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the income inequality dynamics in each of the 50 states of USA over the period 1981-2011. Design/methodology/approach The paper estimates an augmented Kuznets curve panel Vector AutoRegression in per capita income, economic freedom, educational attainment, unemployment, and population ageing along with evaluating generalized impulse responses functions (GIRF) and generalized forecast-error variance decompositions (GFEVD). Findings All the variables are integrated of order one and are panel cointegrated. Kuznets’ hypothesized inverted U-shaped relationship between inequality and growth is not supported by the data. Unemployment and population ageing have statistically significant positive effects on inequality in the long-run; education has statistically significant negative impact; economic freedom has statistically insignificant positive effect. Long-run bidirectional causality exists among the variables. GFEVD show that excluding income inequality itself, variation in income inequality is more influenced by perturbations in per capita income, educational attainment, and unemployment. GIRF corroborate the results of the GFEVD. Originality/value This paper fulfills an identified need to study the causal relationship between inequality and its determining factors without assuming the a priori exogeneity or endogeneity of the underlying variables.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeonha Jung

Agricultural patterns could have diverse impact on long-run economic development. In the context of the US South, this paper examines the legacy of cotton on economic development focusing on a novel channel of structural change. Exploiting variation in cotton production along with agro-climatic conditions, I show that the legacy of cotton has impeded local economic development exclusively as of the mid-twentieth century. The structural break is found to be a consequence of cotton mechanization. Evidence from exogenous variation in the boll weevil infestation shows that cotton farming was strongly dependent on tenant farmers with little human capital. Following cotton mechanization, cotton tenants were largely displaced and absorbed by the manufacturing sector. I then find that the inflow of cotton tenants has reduced labor productivity in the manufacturing sector. Beyond the composition effect, the negative impact on manufacturing productivity has persisted in the long-run through demand-side. Employing an index of state-level policy environment, I exploit within-state variation to show that the legacy of cotton has induced unskill-biased technical change in manufacturing.


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