ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THE STATES BEFORE AND AFTER THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Abstract

Even though, the American Civil War is considered as a seminal event in the history of the United States, there are not many empirical studies examining economic conditions of the Union and the Confederate states. Even though, economic conflict is not considered to be a cause of the Civil War, economic conditions after the war were vastly different in the Union and the Confederate states. The purpose of this study is to analyze the economic outcomes of individuals in the Confederate states and the Union states before and after the American Civil War using census data for 1860 and 1880. Our goal is to analyze the improvements in the occupation income scores. Since the slaves were freed, we also examine whether there was a reduction in the farm households.