| The topic of this dissertation is a set of three interventions by the federal government in response to economic crises, in the United States, between 1929 and 1945.;The first study examines the actions of president Herbert Hoover, who, in late 1929, held a series of conferences in which he petitioned business leaders to maintain wages during the downturn. Narrative evidence supports a central role for Hoover in promulgating the tactic of wage maintenance, and in pressuring firms to comply. I empirically estimate the cross sectional relationship between attendance at Hoover's conferences and wage rigidity, at the firm and industry level. This analysis provides some evidence for Hoover's effect on hourly wages, but little evidence for an effect on weekly earnings.;The second study examines the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, which was established in 1933 to help distressed borrowers avoid foreclosure. The HOLC purchased mortgages from private lenders and issued new mortgages with different terms to the borrowers. I focus on the prices at which the HOLC purchased these mortgages. The data indicates that the HOLC paid relatively high prices for its mortgages. Compared to a counterfactual with lower purchase prices, I calibrate the impact of this policy on the amount of participation by lenders, the foreclosure rate of participating mortgages, and the amount of money transferred to private lenders.;The third study examines the role of the National War Labor Board in narrowing occupational wage dispersion during and after World War II. A new data set from this period reveals compression within and between occupations in local areas. Exploiting cross-occupation variation in the extent of wage changes allowed by NWLB's "bracket" framework, there is evidence that this framework had a moderately compressing effect on the post-war wage structure. In addition, the job classification systems and comparative wage setting practices instituted by the NWLB may also have contributed to this compression. |
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