Working Paper: NBER ID: w27656
Authors: Richard Hornbeck
Abstract: The 1930's American Dust Bowl created archetypal "Dust Bowl migrants," refugees from environmental collapse and economic upheaval. I examine this archetype, comparing migration from more-eroded counties and less-eroded counties to distinguish Dust Bowl migrants from other migrants in this era. Migrants from more-eroded counties were more "negatively selected," in years of education, than other migrants who were "positively selected." These Dust Bowl migrants struggled economically, especially in California. Despite migrants' struggles, however, I estimate strikingly modest impacts of the Dust Bowl on average incomes that contrast with its enduring impacts on agricultural land.
Keywords: Dust Bowl; migration; environmental collapse; economic upheaval; archetypal migrants
JEL Codes: N32; N52
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| dust bowl erosion (Q54) | migration rates (J61) |
| dust bowl erosion (Q54) | educational background of migrants (I25) |
| dust bowl erosion (Q54) | average incomes (D31) |