World War II prime defence contractors: Were they favoured?

Fred R. Kaen

Business History, 2011, vol. 53, issue 7, 1044-1073

Abstract: Between 1940 and 1944 the US government placed $175.066 billion of prime defence contracts with US corporations. Two-thirds of these awards went to only 100 companies and 20% to only five companies leading to charges that the prime contractors were favoured. This article examines the common stock returns of World War II prime contractors relative to broad market indices and to the returns on the non-prime contractors in the same industry. The analysis begins in 1938 with the Anschluss and ends with the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War. Little evidence is found to support the charges.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2011.582576

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