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Stress in the Air: A Conjecture

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  • Stark, Oded

    (University of Bonn)

Abstract

The 1949 study The American Soldier: Combat and Its Aftermath, Volume II, by Stouffer et al. presents detailed accounts of the attitudes of American fighter pilots toward the stress experienced by them and of the policies and practices of the American Air Force command in addressing this stress during WWII. The 2022 study "Killer incentives" by Ager et al. documents an aspect and a repercussion of the stress of German fighter pilots and can be used to identify the response to that stress by the German Air Force command during WWII. Drawing on these two studies, in this paper I construct fighter pilot stress profiles in the two air forces. The picture that emerges is that there is a stark difference between the approaches of the two commands. This diversity leads me to conjecture that the American Air Force command explicitly sought to forestall and curtail fighter pilots' stress, whereas the German Air Force command implicitly cultivated and engineered fighter pilots' stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Stark, Oded, 2024. "Stress in the Air: A Conjecture," IZA Discussion Papers 17418, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17418
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Philipp Ager & Leonardo Bursztyn & Lukas Leucht & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2022. "Killer Incentives: Rivalry, Performance and Risk-Taking among German Fighter Pilots, 1939–45," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(5), pages 2257-2292.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    WWII; fighter pilots; combat missions; fighter pilot stress; policies and practices of the American Air Force in curtailing stress; policies and practices of the German Air Force in cultivating stress;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • E7 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J48 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Particular Labor Markets; Public Policy
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy
    • N42 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-

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