The enduring impact of the American Dust Bowl
Subtitle: short and long-run adjustments to environmental catastrophe
By: Richard Hornbeck.
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 15605; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 15605.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "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"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 12/30/2009.

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