The long-run effects of childhood exposure to market access shocks: Evidence from the US railroad network expansion

68 Pages Posted: 17 Mar 2022 Last revised: 18 Dec 2022

See all articles by Jeff Chan

Jeff Chan

Wilfrid Laurier University

Date Written: March 2, 2022

Abstract

In this paper, I use the expansion of the US railroad network from 1900 to 1910 and the resulting spatial variation in increased market access to investigate whether economic shocks that occur during childhood have long-run ramifications on later-life outcomes, and the channels through which such effects manifest. I link individuals across the 1900, 1910, and 1940 full-count US Censuses and incorporate an instrumental variable strategy to help isolate the causal effect of market access. I find that, in the short run, sons are less likely to be literate and have more siblings. In the long-run, these sons then become less likely to be well-educated and earn lower incomes. The results of this paper shed light on the mechanisms through which railroad-induced market access and other economic shocks during childhood can impact individuals even in later life.

Keywords: linked census, market access, railroads, United States

JEL Classification: F14, J13, N31, N71, O18, R23

Suggested Citation

Chan, Jeff, The long-run effects of childhood exposure to market access shocks: Evidence from the US railroad network expansion (March 2, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4047458 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4047458

Jeff Chan (Contact Author)

Wilfrid Laurier University ( email )

75 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5
Canada

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