Applied Seminar - Michael Poyker (Nottingham)
| Dates: | 11 May 2023 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Current University students |
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Title: Economic Consequences of the U.S. Convict Labor System
Abstract: I study the economic spillovers of convict labor on local labor markets and firms. Using newly collected panel data on U.S. prisons from 1886 to 1940, I calculate each county’s exposure to prisons. I exploit quasi-random variation in a county’s exposure to the capacities of pre-convict-labor prisons as an instrument. I find that competition from cheap prison-made goods led to higher unemployment and reduced wages (particularly for women) in counties that housed competing manufacturing industries. Affected in- dustries innovated away from the competition and thus had higher patenting rates. I also document that technological changes in affected industries were capital-biased.
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Board Room, 2.016/2.017
Arthur Lewis Building
Manchester
