Patronage Politics and the Development of the Welfare State: Confederate Pensions in the American South / Shari Eli, Laura Salisbury.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eli, Shari.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Salisbury, Laura.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w20829.

NBER working paper series no. w20829

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Patronage Politics and the Development of the Welfare State

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2015.

Summary:

Beginning in the 1880s, southern states introduced pensions for Confederate veterans and widows. They continued to expand these programs through the 1920s, while states outside the region were introducing cash transfer programs for workers, poor mothers, and the elderly. Using legislative documents, application records for Confederate pensions, and county-level census and electoral data, we argue that political considerations guided the enactment and distribution of these pensions. We show that Confederate pensions programs were introduced and funded during years in which Democratic gubernatorial candidates were threatened at the ballot box. Moreover, we offer evidence that pensions were disbursed to counties in which these candidates had lost ground to candidates from alternative parties.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2015.