PECUNIARY INCENTIVES TO WORK IN THE UNITED-STATES DURING WORLD-WAR-II

It is argued that changes in workers' budget sets cannot explain the d ramatic increases in civilian work in the United States during World W ar II. Although money wages grew during the period, wartime after-tax real wages were lower than either before or after the war. Evidence fr om the 1940s also appears to be inconsistent with other pecuniary expl anations such as wealth effects of government policies, intertemporal substitution induced by asset prices, unfulfilled expectations, and ch anges in the nonmarket price of time. Although untested and relatively undeveloped, nonpecuniary models of behavior are tempting explanation s for wartime work.