Research

This study analyzes the causal impacts of the educational, occupational, and locational backgrounds of one’s peers in a POW camp upon one’s own chances of survival, utilizing historical POW and Army enlistment records.  I find that, controlling for individual characteristics and fixed effects, high-school-educated peers played an important role in increasing the survival chances of those with college experience.  This paper therefore finds evidence of positive effects of heterogeneity, and a lack of consistent statistically significant benefits of homogeneity, amongst one’s circle of peers within a high stakes environment. 

This study analyzes the effect of WWII POW service on future labor outcomes. Roughly 130,000 American personnel were captured and imprisoned by the Axis powers during WWII, with conditions varying greatly by both captive power and camp. Using newly available individual-level data from IRS tax returns coupled with private-access data from the Census Bureau, estimates of the causal impact of captivity, and differentials across theaters are produced. In particular, did POW service lead to worse postwar economic outcomes, and to what extant was this phenomenon concentrated amongst prisoners of the Japanese?

This study analyzes the effect of what is colloquially known as the Tuskegee Airmen program, a training program for Black pilots and aircraft ground personnel within the Army Air Corps during WWII. Previous work (i.e. Costa & Kahn (2006)) found a positive effect of military service amongst African Americans, differing from that of whites during the same period of service. Using newly available individual-level data from IRS tax returns and private-access data from the Census Bureau, this relationship is tested in regard to WWII. In particular, did those trained during the Tuskegee program have better post-war economic outcomes in comparison to Black servicemen as a whole, and particularly those of similar ability?