What am I reading in ScholarWorks? June 2026

Sometimes I enjoy reading articles, particularly those that are out of my general wheelhouse of things I know a little about, just for the glimpse it gives me into the depth and scope of research involved in the discipline.

Economics Professor Gillian Brunet’s article “Stimulus on the Home Front: The State-Level Effects of WWII” is just such a work. I took a deep breath and dove into the paper, got a little lost in the middle, but when I popped back up for air at the end I was in awe of the complexity of the economic relationships around war spending Brunet was attempting to tease out. Understanding why the questions are hard to answer—even with the data we have—is illuminating. The findings, that “larger positive spending shocks are associated with smaller increases in personal income and employment” are intriguingly counterintuitive—or at least lead to even more interesting questions—which in my opinion should always be a goal of research. Enjoy!

View in ScholarWorks: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/eco_facpubs/111/ 

Smith ScholarWorks is Smith’s institutional repository of digital scholarship and research materials created and curated by faculty, students, and staff at Smith College. Browse by collections, disciplines, and authors.