@article{c5138059dae9497ea2a977dfd464cf19,
title = "Estimates of employment gains attributable to beer legalization in spring 1933",
abstract = "In April 1933, eight months prior to the end of Prohibition, states within the US gained the ability to legalize 3.2 percent alcohol beer. Proponents of legalization predicted that the brewer's dray would bring jobs along with beer. We estimate that legalization brought around 81,000 jobs between April and June of 1933, 60,000 of which were created in April, when the nation emerged from the trough of the Great Depression. This suggests that around 5.6 percent of nationwide non-agricultural spring employment gains, and around 15 percent of April job gains, were associated with beer legalization. Thus, this very early New Deal policy played an important supporting role in helping the nation turn the corner toward recovery.",
keywords = "Beer, Employment, Great depression, Legalization, New deal, Recovery",
author = "Eline Poelmans and Taylor, {Jason E.} and Samuel Raisanen and Holt, {Andrew C.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Joshua Hausman, Sandra Rousseau, Ranjit Dighe, Joe Craig, Andreas Ferrara, Allison Shertzer, and Price Fishback for providing valuable comments and suggestions on earlier iterations of this project. We benefitted from comments from participants at the Economic and Business History Society conference, as well as the Beeronomics Society conference. Andrew Holt gratefully acknowledges the generous support provided by the Center of Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh. We are particularly indebted to the detailed comments from two anonymous referees as well as EEH editor Marianne Wannamaker, as they helped us greatly improve the paper. All remaining errors are our own. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier Inc.",
year = "2022",
month = apr,
doi = "10.1016/j.eeh.2021.101427",
language = "English",
volume = "84",
journal = "Explorations in Economic History",
issn = "0014-4983",
publisher = "Explorations in Economic History",
}