Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/246999 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
EHES Working Papers in Economic History No. 68
Publisher: 
European Historical Economics Society (EHES), s.l.
Abstract: 
In the beginning of the 1890s, counties located in the Cotton Belt of the American South were hit by an agricultural plague, the boll weevil, that adversely affected cotton production and hence the demand for labor. We use variation in the incidence of the boll weevil multiplied with counties' initial cotton share to construct instrumental variables estimates of the labor supply curve. Controlling for county and state-by-time fixed effects, we find a significant positive response of labor supply to changes in labor income. The effect is particularly large for females, consistent with evidence that females had a comparative advantage in picking cotton.
Subjects: 
Labor Supply
Female Labor Force Participation
Agricultural Productivity Shocks
US South
Boll Weevil
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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