Surviving Andersonville: The Benefits of Social Networks in POW Camps

Authors: Costa, Dora L.; Kahn, Matthew E.

Source: The American Economic Review, Volume 97, Number 4, September 2007 , pp. 1467-1487(21)

Publisher: American Economic Association

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Abstract:

Twenty-seven percent of the Union Army prisoners captured July 1863 or later died in captivity. At Andersonville, the death rate may have been as high as 40 percent. How did men survive such horrific conditions? Using two independent datasets, we find that friends had a statistically significant positive effect on survival probabilities and that the closer the ties between friends as measured by such identifiers as ethnicity, kinship, and the same hometown, the bigger was the impact of friends on survival probabilities.

Document Type: Short communication

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/000282807783286702

Publication date: 2007-09-01

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The American Economic Review is a general-interest economics journal. The journal is published quarterly and contains articles on a broad range of topics. Established in 1911, the AER is among the nation's oldest and most respected scholarly journals in the economics profession.
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