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

生产率在不同的公司和国家之间有很大的差异。例如，在狭义的美国制造业中，生产率最高的企业在投入相同的情况下，产出几乎是生产率最低企业的两倍。最近，经济研究表明，“软”技术，如管理，是这种突出的生产力差异的关键决定因素。虽然投资于管理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人员改善公司业绩的能力及其职业成果仍然是一个未知数。该项目提供了关于这一主题的新的经验证据，使用历史上最大的管理教育计划之一的证据，由美国政府在第二次世界大战期间赞助：工程，科学和管理战争训练（ESMWT）。ESMW T为受雇于军工设施的工程师、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有关的生产方面的短期培训，而管理人员则参加了MBA式的课程，提供全面的商业教育。该计划培养了近180万名学生，占1940年大学人口的25%。《欧洲妇女劳动力市场公约》的一个显著特点是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接受研究生教育的独特机会。ESMWT的大规模和范围产生了新的证据，在何种程度上管理教育影响管理人员的劳动力市场的结果，如果包容性的政府计划可以有效地减少人口群体之间的差距。此外，它揭示了美国政府在塑造商业教育，以及科学人力资本和创新在第二次世界大战期间和之后的作用。丰富的档案数据的战争设施，管理人员的职业生涯的历史，和专业网络被用来阐明关键mechanism.This研究探讨第二次世界大战对美国管理创新的影响，使用的证据，从工程，科学和管理战争训练（ESMWT）。在1940年至1945年期间由美国政府赞助，ESMWT为战争设施雇用的工程师和科学家提供与战争有关的生产短期培训;中层管理人员和生产主管通过MBA式计划进行全面的商业教育。该项目使用了一个非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计划的大学联系起来。准自然的变化来自这样一个事实，即工人必须在ESMWT入学考试中获得高于任意阈值的分数才能被录取。首先，该项目研究了接受商学院教育对注册管理人员的职业成果的影响，相对于那些得分低于入门考试门槛的类似管理人员，以及对他们所受雇的战争设施的绩效的影响。此外，它调查ESMWT期间形成的专业网络是否有助于塑造管理人员的劳动力市场的结果，如果该计划帮助非白色和女性管理人员缩小职业差距与他们的白色男性同事。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。它利用了大学距离战争设施的变化，因为只有在50公里内的机构可以举办ESMWT课程，它依赖于文本分析方法来比较ESMWT后参与和非参与机构之间的MBA课程的变化。第三，本项目研究ESMWT课程提供给工程师和科学家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的规模之大，这些研究结果不仅可以让学术界了解美国商学院教育的历史发展，还可以帮助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知识价值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.