State promotion of local public goods: The case of public libraries, 1880-1929

The public library movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to a significant expansion of library services across the United States. We study the impact of state-level institutional development on the creation of local public goods. State library commissions were modestly funded state entities charged with helping localities establish libraries. State library associations were voluntary organizations with a similar mission, having as members the librarians of existing public libraries. Library-enabling legislation clarified the legality and taxation possibilities for local government entities such as towns, municipalities and counties to support libraries. Employing panel data drawn from a series of detailed reports on public libraries conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Education, we use a difference-in-differences methodology to identify the impact of commissions, associations, and enabling legislation on library development in matched pairs of counties that straddle state borders. Our results suggest that state-level institutions and legislation had a statistically and economically significant effect on public library development. The finding has implications for future interpretations of the history of the United States as a “nation of joiners”; local civic engagement and associational life was importantly influenced by larger scale civic and political action. JEL classifications: H40, H75, N31, N32, N41, N4

Public libraries and political participation, 1870-1940

The public library movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries fostered a rapid increase in the number and quality of public libraries in cities and towns across the United States. One important argument for libraries was that they would enhance American democracy by promoting virtues of citizenship and enabling access to information. This paper examines how voter turnout was affected, in the short-term, by the establishment of public libraries, using a county-by-election year panel. Our empirical strategy exploits the founding dates of public libraries as discrete events that should have influenced subsequent voting behavior. Over the wide range of specifications considered, the vast majority of regression results suggest that libraries had no significant short term impact on voter turnout. We discuss potential reasons for this finding, and compare it with recent work finding a positive impact of newspapers on political participation. JEL classifications: H40, H75, N31, N32, N41, N4

The Decline and Rise of Interstate Migration in the United States: Evidence from the IPUMS, 1850-1990

We examine evidence on trends in interstate migration over the past 150 years, using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series of the U.S. Census (IPUMS). Two measures of migration are calculated. The first considers an individual to have moved if she is residing in a state different from her state of birth. The second considers a family to have moved if it is residing in a state different from the state of birth of one of its young children. The latter measure allows us estimate the timing of moves more accurately. Our results suggest that overall migration propensities have followed a U-shaped trend since 1850, falling until around 1900 and then rising until around 1970. We examine variation in the propensity to make an interstate move by age, sex, race, nativity, region of origin, family structure, and education. Counterfactuals based on probit estimates of the propensity to migrate suggest that the rise in migration of families since 1900 is largely attributable to increased educational attainment. The decline of interstate migration in the late nineteenth century remains to be explained.

From Quasi-Private to Quasi-Public: The Development of Local Libraries in the United States, 1870-1930

The period 1870-1930 witnessed the emergence of the local public library as a widespread and enduring American institution. During these years, access to free community-based library services spread to a much larger share of the U.S. population, while the institutional structure of local libraries underwent a transition from largely quasi-private, voluntary associations to the tax-supported public institutions familiar today. In this paper we describe this transition, and document the expansion of public libraries and library services in the United States over these years, using data drawn from library surveys conducted by the federal Bureau of Education. We then review some causal accounts for that expansion. Exploiting cross-state and temporal variation in the data, we estimate cross-section and panel regressions to assess plausible demand and supply factors affecting the pace of library development. We consider a number of the social and economic variables that have been found to correlate with the development of secondary educational institutions, which expanded during roughly the same historical period: these include, when available, income or wealth, urbanization, ethnic composition, and in some specifications average levels of education and literacy. We also examine the effect of legal and political factors that were specific to public libraries, such as state library commissions and associations

The Development of Public Libraries in the United States, 1870–1930: A Quantitative Assessment

The period 1870–1930 witnessed the emergence of the local public library as a widespread and enduring American institution. We document the expansion of public libraries in the United States using data drawn from library surveys conducted by the federal Bureau of Education. We then review causal accounts for that expansion. Exploiting cross-state and temporal variation in the data, we use statistical techniques to assess a number of plausible demand-and-supply factors affecting the pace of library development. Social and economic variables in the analysis include state income or wealth, urbanization, ethnic composition, and gender ratios. We also examine the effect of institutional innovations, such as state library commissions and library associations, that likely affected the establishment of public libraries. We confirm that library expansion was robustly related to urbanization and greater ethnic (immigrant) diversity and to institutional innovations and that it was greatly delayed in southern states

The GSFC Mark-2 three band hand-held radiometer

A self-contained, portable, hand-radiometer designed for field usage was constructed and tested. The device, consisting of a hand-held probe containing three sensors and a strap supported electronic module, weighs 4 1/2 kilograms. It is powered by flashlight and transistor radio batteries, utilizes two silicon and one lead sulfide detectors, has three liquid crystal displays, sample and hold radiometric sampling, and its spectral configuration corresponds to LANDSAT-D's thematic mapper bands. The device was designed to support thematic mapper ground-truth data collection efforts and to facilitate 'in situ' ground-based remote sensing studies of natural materials. Prototype instruments were extensively tested under laboratory and field conditions with excellent results

The Sources of Regional Variation in the Severity of the Great Depression: Evidence from U.S. Manufacturing, 1919-1937

The impact of the Great Depression was milder in the South Atlantic states, more severe in the Mountain states, and surprisingly uniform across other regions of the country —despite large diiferences in industrial structure. Employing data on 20 manufacturing industries disaggregated by state, we analyze the relative contributions of industry mix and location to regional variations in economic performance. Industrial composition had a significant impact on employment growth, with regions that concentrated on durable goods or inputs to construction faring worse than others. Long-run trends also mattered, and explain much of the South Atlantic's more favorable performance

Labor-Market Regimes in U.S. Economic History

In much economic analysis it is a convenient fiction to suppose that changes over time in wages and employment are determined by shifts in supply or demand within a more or less competitive market framework Indeed, this framework has been effectively deployed to understand many episodes in American economic history. We argue here, however, that by minimizing the role of labor-market institutions such an approach is incomplete. Drawing on the history of American labor markets over two centuries, we argue that institutions--by which we mean both formal and informal rules that constrain the choices of economic agents--have played a significant role in the determination of wages, employment and other market outcomes over time. The historical evolution of American labor markets can best be characterized as a sequence of relatively stable arrangements punctuated by shifts in institutional regimes. Our narrative emphasizes the importance of understanding the historically contingent role of institutional regimes in conditioning the operation of supply and demand in empirical and policy analysis of the labor market.

Microbial production of advanced biofuels

Concerns over climate change have necessitated a rethinking of our transportation infrastructure. One possible alternative to carbon-polluting fossil fuels are biofuels produced from a renewable carbon source using engineered microorganisms. Two biofuels, ethanol and biodiesel, have been made inroads to displacing petroleum-based fuels, but their penetration has been limited by the amounts that can be used in conventional engines and by cost. Advanced biofuels that mimic petroleum-based fuels are not limited by the amounts that can be used in existing transportation infrastructure, but have had limited penetration due to costs. In this review, we will discuss the advances in engineering microbial metabolism to produce advanced biofuels and prospects for reducing their costs