Railroad Bailouts in the Great Depression

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Gertjan Verdickt, University of Auckland; Lyndon Moore, Monash University

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
Balance sheet data.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 5.8 MB 09/15/2025 06:23:AM
MV_Table3.do text/plain 3.1 KB 09/15/2025 06:22:AM
MV_Table5.do text/plain 526 bytes 05/21/2024 03:30:PM
MV_Table6.do text/plain 2.4 KB 03/29/2023 10:08:PM
MV_Table7.do text/plain 2.6 KB 05/21/2024 03:30:PM
MV_Table8.do text/plain 2.3 KB 03/26/2023 07:50:AM
MV_Table9.do text/plain 2.6 KB 08/27/2024 01:26:PM

Project Citation: 

Verdickt, Gertjan, and Moore, Lyndon. Railroad Bailouts in the Great Depression. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-09-15. https://doi.org/10.3886/E237962V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and Public Works Administration loaned 50 U.S. railroads over $1.1 billion between 1932 and 1939. The government’s goal was to increase employment and decrease the likelihood of bond defaults. Bailouts appear to have had little effect on employment, but we estimate that they did increase the average wage of railroad employees. Bailouts are estimated to have reduced firm debt, but did not significantly impact bond default. We find some evidence that manufacturing firms located close to railroads benefited from bailout spillovers.

Scope of Project

Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage USA


Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V1 [2025-09-15]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as received from the data depositor. As of April 2026, depositors are required to submit study materials in accessible formats. ICPSR has not reviewed, checked, or processed this material. For additional information about the study, please contact the investigator(s) directly. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR's Accessibility Center.