One Kind of Freedom: Reconsidered (and Turbo Charged)

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 trap of debt peonage. Using probit methods to control for the effects of age, farm size, literacy, family workers, and willingness to assume risk, we find that race accounts for two-thirds of the gap between black and white ownership of farms. Comparing sharecropping and renting, we find that race was much less of a factor in tenure choice. We note that these efforts only scratch the surface of what remains to be done.

New Market Power Models and Sex Differences in Pay

In the context of certain general equilibrium search models, it is possible to infer the elasticity of labor supply to the firm from the elasticity of the quit rate with respect to the wage. We use this framework to estimate the elasticity of labor supply for men and women workers at a chain of grocery stores operating in the southwestern United States, identifying separation elasticities from differences in wages and separation rates across different job titles within the firm. We estimate elasticities of labor supply to the firm of about 2.7 for men and about 1.5 for women, suggesting significant wage-setting power for the firm. Since women have lower elasticities of labor supply to the firm, a Robinson-style monopsony model might explain lower relative pay of women in the grocery industry. The wage gaps we observe among workers in US retail grocery stores are close to what the monopsony model predicts for the elasticities we have estimated.monopsony papers, labor supply, grocery stores, elasticity

The Effects Of Vocation Education In Agriculture On The Practice Performed By Farmers Of Limestone County , Texas, Based On Study Of One Hundred Farmers

In the preparation of this study, the writer has endeavored to include all necessary materials that will be helpful to Teachers of Agriculture and Farmers of Limestone County, Texas. The writer selected this problem because he felt that some type of evaluation of Vocational Education Programs in Agriculture should be made to determine to what extent Vocational Education in Agriculture has aided farmers of Limestone County, Texas, in their farming practices. The significance of an educational program for adult farmers is derived mainly from three facts: 1. The large number of farmers. 2. The crucial influence of these farmers in family, community, state, national, and world affairs. 3. The interest and persistence they have shown in adult education activities whenever reasonably good opportunities have been offered them. No matter how small, any community with a four-year high school is likely to keep a good teacher of Vocational Agriculture very busy. If he serves adequately the adults as well as the high school boys and the young farmers, full-time services are needed

What Constitution Are You Talking About?

Remarks of William L. Ransom, president of the American Bar Association, at the annual luncheon of the Indiana Bar Association, on September 7, 1935