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Research ArticleArticles

Fatherless: The Long-Term Effects of Losing a Father in the U.S. Civil War

Yannick Dupraz and Andreas Ferrara
Published online before print February 07, 2023, 0122-12118R2; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.0122-12118R2
Yannick Dupraz
Yannick Dupraz is a research assistant professor at Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, AMSE. Contact: .
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Andreas Ferrara
Andreas Ferrara is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Contact:
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Abstract

We estimate the causal effect of losing a father in the U.S. Civil War on children’s long-run socioeconomic outcomes. Linking military records from the 2.2 million Union Army soldiers with the 1860 U.S. population census, we track soldiers’ sons into the 1880 and 1900 census. Sons of soldiers who died had lower occupational income scores and were less likely to work in a high- or semi-skilled job as opposed to being low-skilled or farmers. These effects persisted at least until the 1900 census. Our results are robust to instrumenting paternal death with the mortality rate of the father’s regiment, which we argue was driven by military strategy that did not take into account the social origins of soldiers. Pre-war family wealth is a strong mitigating factor: there is no effect of losing a father in the top quartile of the wealth distribution.

Keywords:
  • U.S. CIVIL WAR
  • ORPHANS
  • INTERGENERATIONAL MOBILITY
JEL Classification:
  • N11
  • J13
  • J62

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Journal of Human Resources: 58 (3)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 58, Issue 3
1 May 2023
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Fatherless: The Long-Term Effects of Losing a Father in the U.S. Civil War
Yannick Dupraz, Andreas Ferrara
Journal of Human Resources Feb 2023, 0122-12118R2; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.0122-12118R2

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Fatherless: The Long-Term Effects of Losing a Father in the U.S. Civil War
Yannick Dupraz, Andreas Ferrara
Journal of Human Resources Feb 2023, 0122-12118R2; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.0122-12118R2
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Keywords

  • U.S. CIVIL WAR
  • ORPHANS
  • intergenerational mobility
  • N11
  • J13
  • J62
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