The long-term effect of wartime social networks: evidence from African American Civil War veterans, 1870–1900

Temporary social networks may have long-term impacts on economic outcomes. This paper focuses on social networks formed during the American Civil War (1861–1865) among African American veterans. I find that wartime social networks (veterans from the same company) persistently affected veterans’ location choices in the post-Civil War period. By estimating discrete choice migration models, I show that veterans were more likely to move to a county where men from their military war company lived. By focusing on heterogeneous military companies and using the instrument of “weak” social networks, I rule out the competing explanation that the effect is driven by veterans having similar location preferences. The paper finds long-term benefits of living together as well. Veterans earned higher incomes after the war if they ended up living in the same county with wartime friends who had higher incomes.