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SUMMARY:Railroad Expansion\, Local Shocks and Individual Opportunities: Ev
 idence from Nineteenth Century America - Maxence Castiello (Panthéon-Sorb
 onne)
DTSTART:20231016T123000Z
DTEND:20231016T130000Z
UID:TALK206674@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:113473
DESCRIPTION:We provide microeconomic evidence on the effect of railroad in
 frastructure driving local shocks and shaping individuals’ opportunities
 . We focus on the roll-out of the railway network between 1850 and 1880 in
  the United-States. Building on full-count census records and linkages cro
 sswalks\, we construct multiple sets of individual-level longitudinal data
 sets. Precisely\, we track nearly four millions of working-age white men f
 or which we observe their occupation and county of residence. In addition\
 , we rely on historical transportation maps to derive time-varying measure
 s of railroad proximity and market access. Exploiting time-variation in ra
 ilroad connectivity in a DiD fashion\, we document substantial shifts in t
 he local economic activities at the county-level. Our set of baseline resu
 lts shows a positive effect of railroad proximity on population concentrat
 ion\, as a popular proxy for economic growth. Breaking-down the railroad-i
 nduced compositional effects on the sectoral and occupational structures\,
  we document that better-connected counties experience an increase in the 
 secondary and tertiary sectors prevalence\, and a consequential rise of th
 e frequencies of high- and semi-skilled occupations. The second part of th
 e paper delves into individuals’ trajectories in order to decompose the 
 aggregate effects of railroad exposure. Precisely\, we examine the relativ
 e contributions of the sectoral and occupational transitions\, labor marke
 t entry and geographic mobility channels. Our results suggest that railroa
 d proximity poorly affects individuals transitioning on average\, with lar
 ge levels of disparities among individuals. Railroad development primarily
  benefits young workers and those who relocate closer to railroads\, but a
 dversely impacts labor market outcomes of older individuals who stay put. 
 Additionally\, we show that changes in railroad access deeply shape initia
 l career choices\, especially for the eldest sons. Lastly\, we implement a
  gravity framework underscoring the role of railroads in retaining skilled
  jobs locally and attracting external individuals.
LOCATION:Room 12\, Faculty of History
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