The Enduring Impact of the American Dust Bowl: Short and Long-run Adjustments to Environmental Catastrophe / Richard Hornbeck.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hornbeck, Richard.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w15605.

NBER working paper series no. w15605

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

The Enduring Impact of the American Dust Bowl

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2009.

Summary:

The 1930's American Dust Bowl was an environmental catastrophe that greatly eroded sections of the Plains. Analyzing new data collected to identify low-, medium-, and high-erosion counties, the Dust Bowl is estimated to have immediately, substantially, and persistently reduced agricultural land values and revenues. During the Depression and through at least the 1950's, there was limited reallocation of farmland from activities that became relatively less productive. Agricultural adjustments, such as reallocating land from crops to livestock, recovered only 14% to 28% of the initial agricultural cost. The economy adjusted predominately through migration, rather than through capital inflows and increased industry.

Notes:

Print version record

December 2009.