NBER Publications by Roger Ransom

Since One Kind of Freedom was published in 1977 there have been enormous advances in computer technology and statistical software, and an impressive expansion of micro-level historical data sets. In this essay we reconsider' our earlier findings on the consequences of emancipation in terms of what might be accomplished using the new technology, methods, and data. We employ the entire sample of 11,202 farms collected for the Southern Economic History Project not the sub-sample used to prepare 1KF. We revisit the question of declining production of foodstuffs, examining the data this time on a farm-by-farm basis. We conclude that 30 percent of farms in the cotton regions were locked-in' to cotton production and another 16 percent were producing too much food in an effort to avoid the tra...

We present new evidence to support our earlier finding that there was no appreciable trend in the rate of retirement for American men between 1870 and 1930. The data suggests that Jon Moen's claim that retirement increased appreciably during this period is mistaken. Moen's critique of our earlier paper is also examined point by point. We demonstrate that his doubts about our procedures are unnecessary.