This dataset analyzes over $1.1 billion in loans provided to 50 U.S. railroads by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and Public Works Administration between 1932 and 1939. It examines the bailouts' effects on employment, wages, firm debt, bond default, and spillover benefits to nearby manufacturing firms.
Use Cases
- Analyze the relationship between bailout amounts and subsequent changes in railroad employee wages.
- Model the impact of government loans on firm debt levels across the 50 recipient railroads.
- Investigate geographic spillover effects by correlating bailouts with outcomes for nearby manufacturing firms.
- Assess the statistical significance of bailouts on bond default likelihood for the financed railroads.
Strengths
- Focuses on a specific historical policy intervention involving over $1.1 billion.
- Covers a defined set of 50 U.S. railroad companies.
- Analyzes data across a 7-year period from 1932 to 1939.
Limitations
- The specific variables, column structure, and sample size are not described.
- As historical data, it does not reflect contemporary economic conditions or policies.
- Analysis may be limited to the specific methodologies and sources used in the original research.
Provenance
- Source
- ICPSR Harvested Dataverse
- Collection Method
- null
- Time Range
- 1932 to 1939
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- United States