The impact of military forts on agricultural investments on the Great Plains in 1880

Decker, Christopher and Flynn, David (2009): The impact of military forts on agricultural investments on the Great Plains in 1880.

Abstract

We empirically investigate the relationship between agricultural development and proximity to military forts in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado in 1880. Agricultural investments are substantially higher in counties where a military fort is present, suggesting that military forts stimulated agricultural development on the Great Plains. However, the reverse is not true; there is no statistical support for the notion that forts necessarily located in counties where substantial development was already occurring. Moreover, we found that while the presence of a military fort has the effect of increasing agricultural development, there is no evidence that such a presence sustained agricultural development.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Forts, Great Plains, Agriculture
• Subjects: N - Economic History > N5 - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries > N51 - U.S. ; Canada: Pre-1913; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R5 - Regional Government Analysis > R53 - Public Facility Location Analysis ; Public Investment and Capital Stock; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes; N - Economic History > N9 - Regional and Urban History > N91 - U.S. ; Canada: Pre-1913

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