WWII Spending in the Electrical Machinery Industry Group

Live Poster Session: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/92202852808?pwd=L0JSUExoZ3o0SHp4eFVsVVNBNm1VQT09
Thursday, July 29th 1:45-2:45pm EDT

Christopher Yang
Christopher Yang

Chris is a rising junior (’23) at Wesleyan who is majoring in Economics. He is originally from Dallas, Texas.

Abstract: This project aims to further our understanding of the relationship between World War II military spending and the post-war U.S. economy. From the Civilian Production Administration, digitized summary data have been obtained which contains more than 190,000 contracts for U.S. war production with 30,000 unique product descriptions. My task was to assign SIC codes matching the 1947 Census of Manufactures to the product descriptions specified in each contract. Additionally, for each contract, I coded binary variables measuring whether the product was an intermediate input or a final good, whether it was subject to rationing, et cetera. Finally, I examined how the economic effects of war spending vary by industry, with a focus on the electrical machinery industry group.

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