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

不同公司和国家的生产率差异很大。例如，在狭义的美国制造业中，生产率最高的企业以相同的投入产出几乎是生产率最低的企业的两倍。最近，经济研究表明，与管理一样，“软”技术是如此显著的生产率差异的关键决定因素。尽管投资于管理对于刺激公司和总体增长都至关重要，但商学院教育在多大程度上影响管理人员改善公司业绩和职业生涯的能力在很大程度上仍不得而知。该项目利用二战期间由美国政府赞助的历史上最大的管理教育项目之一：工程、科学和管理战争训练(ESMWT)的证据，就这一主题提供了新的实证证据。ESMWT为受雇于军工设施的工程师、科学家和管理人员提供免费研究生教育。虽然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，但管理人员参加了一个MBA式的项目，该项目提供全面的商业教育。该项目培养了近180万名学生，占1940年大学人口的25%。ESMWT的一个显著特点是，它禁止任何基于性别和种族的歧视，因此为妇女和非白人工人提供了参加研究生教育的独特机会。ESMWT的规模和范围产生了新的证据，即管理教育在多大程度上影响经理的劳动力市场结果，以及包容性政府计划是否可能有效地缩小人口群体之间的差距。此外，它还揭示了美国政府在第二次世界大战期间和之后在塑造商业教育以及科学人力资本和创新方面所扮演的角色。本研究使用了丰富的战争设施、经理职业历史和专业网络的档案数据来阐明关键机制。本研究使用来自工程、科学和管理战争训练(ESMWT)的证据，考察了二战对美国管理创新的影响。ESMWT在1940年至1945年期间由美国政府赞助，为受雇于战争设施的工程师和科学家提供与战争相关的生产方面的短期培训；以及中层管理人员和生产主管通过MBA式的课程进行全面的商业教育。这个项目使用了一个异常详细的新组装的数据集，将参与ESMWT的经理、工程师和科学家、战争设施性能和主持该项目的大学联系在一起。准自然变化来自这样一个事实，即工人必须在ESMWT入学考试中取得高于任意门槛的分数才能被录取。首先，这个项目研究了接受商学院教育对注册管理人员的职业成就的影响，相对于分数恰好低于入学考试门槛的类似管理人员，以及对他们受雇的战争设施性能的影响。此外，它还调查了在ESMWT期间形成的专业网络是否有助于塑造经理的劳动力市场结果，以及该计划是否帮助非白人和女性经理缩小了与白人男性同事的职业差距。其次，本研究分析了ESMWT是否导致了战后管理教育的结构性变化。它利用了大学与战争设施距离的差异，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，它依靠文本分析方法比较参加ESMWT课程的机构和非参与机构的MBA课程在ESMWT之后的变化。第三，该项目研究了提供给工程师和科学家的ESMWT课程是否塑造了美国的科学人力资本和长期创新，以及它与管理资本的互动。鉴于ESMWT的规模庞大，这些结果不仅让学者了解美国商学院教育的历史发展，还可能有助于在国家紧急情况下设计类似的教育项目。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.