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Labor Costs, Paternalism, and Loyalty in Southern Agriculture: A Constraint on the Growth of the Welfare State

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  • Alston, Lee J.
  • Ferrie, Joseph P.

Abstract

We examine the role of southern legislators in resisting the early expansion of the welfare state in the 1930s. A desire to keep agricultural labor cheap and dependent on southern landlords motivated the resistance. Dependence promoted a loyal labor force and thereby reduced monitoring costs in the labor-intensive production of cotton. Federal and state welfare programs would have substituted for landlord paternalism and hence made labor less loyal. Evidence on the federal Old-Age and Unemployment Insurance systems and state Old-Age Pension and Mothers' Aid programs are found consistent with our hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Alston, Lee J. & Ferrie, Joseph P., 1985. "Labor Costs, Paternalism, and Loyalty in Southern Agriculture: A Constraint on the Growth of the Welfare State," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(1), pages 95-117, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:45:y:1985:i:01:p:95-117_03
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    1. Clay, Karen & Lewis, Joshua & Severnini, Edson R. & Wang, Xiao, 2020. "The Value of Health Insurance during a Crisis: Effects of Medicaid Implementation on Pandemic Influenza Mortality," IZA Discussion Papers 13200, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Vinish Shrestha, 2024. "Historical Racial Oppression and Healthcare Access: Unveiling Disparities Post-ACA in the American South," Working Papers 2024-09, Towson University, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2024.
    3. James J. Feigenbaum & Soumyajit Mazumder & Cory B. Smith, 2020. "When Coercive Economies Fail: The Political Economy of the US South After the Boll Weevil," NBER Working Papers 27161, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Bruno Gabriel Witzel de Souza, 2024. "‘The same contract that is suitable for your Excellency’: Immigration and emulation in the adoption of sharecropping‐cum‐debt arrangements in Brazil (1835‒80)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(2), pages 612-643, May.
    5. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew & Schmidt, Lucie, 2020. "Federalizing benefits: The introduction of Supplemental Security Income and the size of the safety net," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    6. Shawn Everett Kantor & Price V. Fishback, 1994. "Coalition Formation and the Adoption of Workers? Compensation: The Case of Missouri, 1911 to 1926," NBER Chapters, in: The Regulated Economy: A Historical Approach to Political Economy, pages 259-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. William A. Sundstrom, 1997. "Explaining the Racial Unemployment Gap: Race, Region, and the Employment Status of Men, 1940," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 50(3), pages 460-477, April.
    8. Carolyn M. Moehling, 2007. "The American Welfare System and Family Structure: An Historical Perspective," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(1).
    9. Gregori Galofré-Vilà & Martin McKee & David Stuckler, 2022. "Quantifying the mortality impact of the 1935 old-age assistance," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(1), pages 62-77.
    10. Galofré Vilà, Gregori, 2020. "Quantifying the impact of aid to dependent children: An epidemiological framework⁎," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    11. Jung, Yeonha, 2020. "The long reach of cotton in the US South: Tenant farming, mechanization, and low-skill manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    12. Philipp Ager, 2013. "The Persistence of de Facto Power: Elites and Economic Development in the US South, 1840-1960," Working Papers 0038, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    13. John Joseph Wallis & Wallace E. Oates & John Joseph Wallis & Wallace E. Oates, 2004. "The Impact of the New Deal on American Federalism," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 19, pages 325-350, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Bruno Gabriel Witzel de Souza, 2019. "The rationale of sharecropping: immigrant bonded laborers and the transition from slavery in Brazil (1830-1890)," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 239, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Werner Troesken, 1994. "The Institutional Antecedents of State Utility Regulation: The Chicago Gas Industry, 1860 to 1913," NBER Chapters, in: The Regulated Economy: A Historical Approach to Political Economy, pages 55-80, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Daniel B. Jones & Werner Troesken & Randall Walsh, 2012. "A Poll Tax by any Other Name: The Political Economy of Disenfranchisement," NBER Working Papers 18612, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Jung, Yeonha, 2018. "The Legacy of King Cotton: Agricultural Patterns and the Quality of Structural Change," SocArXiv trjfz, Center for Open Science.
    18. Andrew Goodman-Bacon, 2016. "The Long-Run Effects of Childhood Insurance Coverage: Medicaid Implementation, Adult Health, and Labor Market Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 22899, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Daniel P. Gitterman, 2013. "Remaking a Bargain: The Political Logic of the Minimum Wage in the United States," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 5(1), pages 3-36, March.
    20. Andrew Goodman-Bacon & Jamein P. Cunningham, 2019. "Changes in Family Structure and Welfare Participation Since the 1960s: The Role of Legal Services," NBER Working Papers 26238, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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