EH.Net Abstracts in Economic History

         EHS Abstract Submission
                    (c) 1996 EH.Net
-----------------------------------------------------------
              Name:  Dora L. Costa
               Email:  costa at mit.edu
         Institution:  MIT
 
         Co-author:  None
 
             Title:  The Changing Dynamics of Unemployment: 
                      Evidence from Civil War Pension Records  

  Internet Address
of abstracted work:  Not available on the Internet  

           By mail:  
                     Dora L. Costa
                     Department of Economics, E52-274C
                     MIT
                     Cambridge, MA 02139  
   
       Language:  English
 
          Abstract:
   I investigate why workers' probability of leaving unemployment
has fallen since 1900 by estimating the impact of a large
government transfer, the first major pension program in the
United States, covering Union Army veterans of the Civil War.  I
find that pensions exerted a large impact on the probability of
long-term, but not short-term, unemployment.  Although pensions
affected the probability of both entering and exiting
unemployment, pensions mainly lowered the probability of leaving
unemployment.  The findings suggest that the secular increase in
wealth is an important explanation for the secular rise in
long-term unemployment.

 
      Bibliography:  Unpublished MS, MIT  
  
                  Subject:  T
 Geographical Area:  7
      Country/Region:  USA
           Time Period:  8