In the Shadow of the Mushroom Cloud

Nuclear Testing, Radioactive Fallout, and Damage to U.S. Agriculture, 1945 to 1970

Bibliographic Data

ID10095366
AuthorsKeith Meyers (0000-0003-1677-7693, University of Southern Denmark, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume79
Issue1
Pages244-274
Publication date2019-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Economic History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0507 • E-ISSN: 1471-6372
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s002205071800075x
OpenAlexW2904540451
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited35

In the 1950s the United States conducted scores of atmospheric nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site. This article studies the effects of radioactive fallout from nuclear tests on agriculture in regions hundreds of miles from the NTS. While research has shown that this radioactive material posed a health risk near the NTS, little is known about the direct economic effects nuclear testing may have had. I find that fallout from nuclear tests adversely affected U.S. agricultural production, and this result suggests that nuclear testing had a much broader economic and environmental impact than previously thought

Agriculture · Archaeology · Geography · Nuclear engineering · Nuclear physics · Nuclear test · Nuclear weapon · Physics · Political science · Radioactive contamination · Radioactive fallout · Radioactive waste · Radionuclide · Shadow (psychology · American Environmental and Regional History · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Engineering · Environmental Science · Law · Market Dynamics and Volatility · Psychology

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