Structural Change and Internal Labor Migration: Evidence from the Great Depression

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-54
Author(s):  
Christopher D. A. Boone ◽  
Laurence Wilse-Samson
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Macroeconomic Fluctuations ◽  
Subsistence Farming ◽  
Labor Reallocation ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Market Consequences

Abstract We analyze sectoral labor reallocation and the reversal of urbanization in the U.S. during the Great Depression. The widespread movement to farms, which serves as a form of migratory insurance during the crisis, is largely towards farms with low levels of mechanization. In contrast, the mechanized agricultural sector sheds workers, many of whom reallocate into low-productivity or subsistence farming. The crisis perverts the normal process of structural change—in which workers displaced by farm equipment are released into more productive occupations—suggesting that macroeconomic fluctuations are an important factor determining the labor market consequences of technological change.

Economic Recovery in the United States: A Commentary

1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-212
Author(s):  
Ronald L. Tracy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Normal Range ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Automatic Mechanism ◽  
Active Policy

Although the United has been in a recovery since 1982, for many it has been disappointing since it does not seem likely that it will lead to both stable prices (about 2 percent inflation) and low levels of unemployment (about 4 percent) that were the hallmark of the 1960s. This has led Edmund Phelps to question the automatic mechanism for recovery from monetary disturbances. Certainly in the years prior to the Great Depression when the economy recovered, it did so without governmental action. Since the 1930s, governmental activism has become commonplace; hence Phelps suggests that a revised theory may indicate that the recovery will not proceed to the “normal” range but only to the “broad territory of the normal” without some active policy push. The key to accepting this revised theory is identifying what is “normal” and what are monetary disturbances.

The Role of Business Liquidity During the Great Depression and Afterwards: Differences Between Large and Small Firms

1982 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 883-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Manning Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Corporate Finance ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Price Change ◽  
Financial Behavior ◽  
Large Firms ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Cyclical Pattern

This paper describes two contrary developments in corporate finance during the Great Depression. In 1930s downswings the top one percent of firms acquired unusually high rations of liquid assets to receipts, thus withdrawing funds from the spending stream. Smaller firms, however, were forced into highly illiquid positions (by postwar standards) by episodes of monetary restriction in 1931 and 1937. It is argued that both developments made the Depression more severe. A structural change is found after 1945 in the financial behavior of large firms. This is attributed to a new cyclical pattern of price change and lower business uncertainty during postwar recessions.

Remaking the Heartland

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Objective Observer ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Changing Times ◽  
Middle West

For many Americans, the Middle West is a vast unknown. This book sets out to rectify this. It shows how the region has undergone extraordinary social transformations over the past half-century and proven itself surprisingly resilient in the face of such hardships as the Great Depression and the movement of residents to other parts of the country. It examines the heartland's reinvention throughout the decades and traces the social and economic factors that have helped it to survive and prosper. The book points to the critical strength of the region's social institutions established between 1870 and 1950—the market towns, farmsteads, one-room schoolhouses, townships, rural cooperatives, and manufacturing centers that have adapted with the changing times. It focuses on farmers' struggles to recover from the Great Depression well into the 1950s, the cultural redefinition and modernization of the region's image that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s, the growth of secondary and higher education, the decline of small towns, the redeployment of agribusiness, and the rapid expansion of edge cities. Drawing arguments from extensive interviews and evidence from the towns and counties of the Midwest, the book provides a unique perspective as both an objective observer and someone who grew up there. It offers an accessible look at the humble yet strong foundations that have allowed the region to endure undiminished.

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