Replication data for: The Enduring Impact of the American Dust Bowl: Short and Long-run Adjustments to Environmental Catastrophe

The 1930's American Dust Bowl was an environmental catastrophe that greatly eroded sections of the Plains. The Dust Bowl is estimated to have immediately, sub- stantially, and persistently reduced agricultural land values and revenues in more- eroded counties relative to less-eroded counties. During the Depression and through at least the 1950's, there was limited relative adjustment of farmland away from ac- tivities that became relatively less productive in more-eroded areas. Agricultural ad- justments recovered less than 25% of the initial difference in agricultural costs for more-eroded counties. The economy adjusted predominately through large relative population declines in more-eroded counties, both during the 1930's and through the 1950's.