The effect of World War II spending and army service on the lifespan of the Black population

Abstract

We investigate how World War II affected the longevity of the Black population. We focus attention on two aspects of the war. First, during the war a very large number of men served in the military. Second, many companies received large Federal contracts to support the war effort and employed a large number of workers in the production of war-related goods and services. Previous work has found that these events appear to have improved the economic conditions of Black men after the war. We document that war contracts indeed increased the age at death of Black men, but not of White men, lowering racial disparities in lifespan. The results for Black women are similar but less robust. Although WWII Army veterans lived longer than civilians, our causal estimates of the effects of serving during the war are imprecise for Black men.