

Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was famous for its emergency relief and public works programs. How successful were they? As part of a large-scale project, Price Fishback and Shawn Kantor, in conjunction with William Horrace, Michael Haines, and Ryan Johnson, have examined the impact of the various work relief and public works programs on a variety of measures of economic and social welfare. This section briefly describes the main public works and relief projects and then summarizes some of the results of the studies.