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Did the Great Depression affect Educational Attainment in the US?

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  • Kisswani, Khalid

Abstract

The Great Depression is a prime example of a macroeconomic crisis that produced adverse economic and social effects in all spheres of life. The theoretical arguments about the real effects of the Great Depression on education vary. The first is that of economic hardships, which might force individuals eligible to go to school to work for their sustenance. The second argument is that high unemployment would reduce the opportunity cost of going to school, making going to school the best other viable alternative. Following these theoretical notions, this paper explores the impact of the Great Depression on education, on race (whites and blacks) and gender (males and females), during the period from 1930 to 1940. Furthermore, this paper examines the effects of state employment indices on the average education (at the mean). The results (using individual census data from 1960) show some evidence that the Great Depression affected education of whites born between 1911 and 1915. However, the results show no evidence that the variation in state employment indices affected the decision of schooling on the average (mean), but it affected the education of white males at the top of the distribution (90% percentile).

Suggested Citation

  • Kisswani, Khalid, 2008. "Did the Great Depression affect Educational Attainment in the US?," MPRA Paper 12302, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:12302
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence Katz, 2003. "Mass Secondary Schooling and the State," NBER Working Papers 10075, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Goldin, Claudia, 1998. "America's Graduation from High School: The Evolution and Spread of Secondary Schooling in the Twentieth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 345-374, June.
    3. Altonji, Joseph G, 1993. "The Demand for and Return to Education When Education Outcomes Are Uncertain," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(1), pages 48-83, January.
    4. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Keueger, 1991. "Does Compulsory School Attendance Affect Schooling and Earnings?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 979-1014.
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard J. Paulsen, 2022. "Arts majors and the Great Recession: a cross-sectional analysis of educational choices and employment outcomes," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(4), pages 635-658, December.
    2. Moulton Jeremy Grant, 2017. "The Great Depression of Income: Historical Estimates of the Longer-Run Impact of Entering the Labor Market during a Recession," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 1-20, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Great Depression; education; employment indices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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