Labor Earnings Inequality in Manufacturing during the Great Depression

Felipe Benguria, Chris Vickers and Nicolas Ziebarth

The Journal of Economic History, 2020, vol. 80, issue 2, 531-563

Abstract: We study labor earnings inequality during the Great Depression using establishment-level information from the Census of Manufactures (COM). Inequality, as measured by the interquartile range in earnings per worker, declines by 10 log points between 1929 and 1933. However, by 1935, this difference has recovered to its 1929 level. In a decomposition, this decline and then rise in inequality is entirely explained by returns to observable factors, most notably the skill premium and regional differentials. The exit of establishments plays an important role in the initial decline in inequality but barely any role in the recovery.

Date: 2020
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