The Effects of World War II on U.S. Management Innovation

第二次世界大战对美国管理创新的影响

• 批准号: 2315346
• 负责人: Michela Giorcelli
• 金额: $ 32.04万
• 依托单位: National Bureau of Economic Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315346&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Effects; World; War; II; U.S.

Productivity dramatically varies across firms and countries. For instance, within narrowly-defined US manufacturing industries, the most productive establishments make almost twice as much output with the same input as the least productive ones. Recently, economic research has shown that “soft” technologies, like management, are a key determinant of such outstanding productivity variations. While investing in management is crucial for stimulating both firm and aggregate growth, to what extent business school education affects managers’ ability to improve firm performance and their career outcomes remains largely unknown. This project provides new empirical evidence on this topic, using evidence from one of the largest managerial education programs in history, sponsored by the U.S. government during World War II: the Engineering, Science, and Management War Training (ESMWT). The ESMWT provided free postgraduate education to engineers, scientists and managers employed at war industrial facilities. While engineers and scientists received a short training on war-related production, managers attended an MBA-style program, that offered a comprehensive business education. The program trained almost 1.8 million students, 25% of the university population in 1940. A distinctive feature of the ESMWT is that it prohibited any discrimination based on gender and race, and therefore gave women and nonwhite workers a unique opportunity to participate in graduate-level education. The large scale and scope of the ESMWT generate novel evidence on to what extent managerial education affects managers’ labor market outcomes and if inclusive government programs may be effective in reducing gaps between demographic groups. Moreover, it sheds new light on the role of the U.S. government in shaping business education, as well as scientific human capital and innovation during and after World War II. Rich archival data on war facilities, manager career history, and professional networks are used to elucidate key mechanisms.This research examines the effects of World War II on US managerial innovation, using evidence from the Engineering, Science, and Management War Training (ESMWT). Sponsored by the US government between 1940 and 1945, the ESMWT offered engineers and scientists employed at war facilities short training on war-related production; and middle managers and production supervisors a comprehensive business education via an MBA-style program. This project uses an unusually detailed newly-assembled dataset linking managers, engineers, and scientists that participated in the ESMWT, war facilities performance, and universities that hosted the program. Quasi-natural variation comes from the fact that workers had to score above an arbitrary threshold in an ESMWT entry-exam to be admitted. First, this project studies the effects of receiving business school education on the career outcomes of enrolled managers, relative to similar managers who scored right below the entry-exam threshold, and on the performance of war facilities in which they were employed. Moreover, it investigates whether professional networks formed during ESMWT contributed to shaping managers' labor market outcomes and if the program helped nonwhite and female managers to close the occupation gap with their white male colleagues. Second, this research analyzes whether the ESMWT caused structural changes in managerial education after the war. It exploits variation in university distance from war facilities, since only institutions within 50km of them could host ESMWT courses, and it relies on text analysis methods to compare changes in the MBA curricula between participating and nonparticipating institutions after the ESMWT. Third, this project studies if ESMWT classes offered to engineers and scientists shaped US scientific human capital and long-run innovation and its interaction with managerial capital. Given the large scale of the ESMWT, these results not only inform academics about the historical development of business school education in the US but could be helpful in designing similar educational programs under national emergencies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

例如，在狭义的美国制造业中，生产力最高的企业在相同投入下的产出几乎是生产力最低的企业的两倍。与管理一样，管理是如此显着的生产力变化的关键决定因素。虽然对管理的投资对于刺激公司和总体增长至关重要，但商学院教育在多大程度上影响管理者提高公司绩效及其职业成果的能力仍然很大程度上未知。该项目利用以下证据提供了关于该主题的新经验证据二战期间由美国政府资助的历史上最大的管理教育项目之一：工程、科学和管理战争培训 (ESMWT) ESMWT 为战争工业设施中的工程师、科学家和管理人员提供免费的研究生教育。工程师和科学家接受了与战争相关的生产方面的短期培训，而管理人员则参加了 MBA 式的项目，该项目提供了全面的商业教育。该项目培训了近 180 万名学生，占 1940 年大学人口的 25%。 ESMWT 的显着特点是它禁止任何基于性别和种族的歧视，因此为女性和非白人工人提供了参与研究生教育的独特机会。ESMWT 的规模和范围在多大程度上产生了新的证据。管理教育影响管理者的劳动力市场结果，如果包容性政府计划可以有效缩小人口群体之间的差距，那么它就可以为美国政府在塑造商业教育以及科学人力资本和创新方面的作用提供新的视角。以及二战后的丰富。有关战争设施、管理者职业历史和专业网络的档案数据被用来阐明关键机制。本研究利用来自工程、科学和管理战争训练 (ESMWT) 的证据，探讨了第二次世界大战对美国管理创新的影响。 1940 年至 1945 年间，ESMWT 得到美国政府的资助，为战争设施中雇用的工程师和科学家提供有关战争相关生产的短期培训；并通过 MBA 课程为中层企业管理人员和生产主管提供全面的教育。该项目使用了一个异常详细的新组装数据集，将参与 ESMWT 的管理人员、工程师和科学家、战争设施性能以及主办该项目的大学联系起来。准自然变化来自于工人必须得分高于任意值的事实。首先，该项目研究了接受商学院教育对注册经理的职业成果的影响（相对于得分低于入职考试门槛的类似经理）以及对管理人员绩效的影响。他们所在的战争设施此外，它还调查了 ESMWT 期间形成的专业网络是否有助于塑造管理者的劳动力市场结果，以及该计划是否帮助非白人和女性管理者缩小与白人男性同事的职业差距。它利用了大学与战争设施之间距离的变化，因为只有距离战争设施 50 公里以内的机构才能举办 ESMWT 课程，并且它依靠文本分析方法来比较参与和参与的 MBA 课程的变化。第三，该项目研究为工程师和科学家提供的 ESMWT 课程是否塑造了美国的科学人力资本和长期创新及其与管理资本的相互作用。鉴于 ESMWT 规模庞大，这些结果不仅为学术界提供了信息。关于美国商学院教育的历史发展，但可能有助于在国家紧急情况下设计类似的教育计划。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估，被认为值得支持标准。