The bombing of Germany: the economic geography of war-induced dislocation in West German industry

摘要

This paper reveals the impact of wartime destruction in urban housing on regional economic growth in West Germany between 1939 and 1950.1 demonstrate econometrically that the German economy remained severely dislocated as long as the urban housing stock had not been rebuilt. The recovery of urban industry was constrained by a war-induced labour shortage and, therefore, industrial capacities remained underutilized. In contrast, the growth of the rural economy was facilitated by labour expansion, which depressed industrial labour productivity. I apply instrumental variables to account for endogeneity and robust regressions to adjust for the impact of outliers.