Jim Crow and Black Economic Progress After Slavery

Jim Crow and Black Economic Progress After Slavery

Author: Lukas Althoff

Author: Hugo Reichardt

Abstract: This paper studies the long-run effects of slavery and Jim Crow on Black Americans’ economic outcomes. We trace each Black family’s linked census and administrative records between 1850 and 2000 to measure how long they were enslaved and where they lived during Jim Crow. We show that Black families who were enslaved until the Civil War have considerably lower education, income, and wealth today than Black families who were free before the Civil War. The disparities between the two groups have persisted because most families enslaved until the Civil War lived in states with strict Jim Crow regimes after slavery. In a regression discontinuity design based on ancestors’ enslavement location, we show that states’ Jim Crow regimes sharply reduced Black families’ economic progress in the long run, largely by limiting their access to education. Using quasi-experimental variation, we show that gaining school access closed 80 percent of the gap in human capital caused by exposure to strict Jim Crow regimes.

Pages: 126

Date Added: 12/2/2022, 2:08:20 PM

Seminar Notes:

Venue: NBER Economics of Mobility Conference 2022

Objective: To understand if there is a persistent gap for families that were enslaved until the civil war and whether this gap is driven more by the history of slavery or exposure to Jim Crow

Importance: There are three factors that might drive the persistence in the gap between enslaved versus free: Disadvantages of being enslaved longer, exposure to different locations (and Jim Crow severity), selection into free group by ability/skills

Background: Slow narrowing of black-white gaps in literacy rates over last 150 years.

Slavery until 1865, Jim Crow 1877-1964

Education was a key target of Jim Crow laws

Data & Key Variables:

1850 and 1860 Censuses only included free Black Americans. Anyone who links back to these records assumed to be fee before Civil War. Also provides state where family was living pre-Civil War.

1940 Census outcomes: Education, Wage income, Homeownership, House Value

Two groups "Enslaved" where no family members can be linked back to early Census and "Free" where at least one family member links

New database of 800 Jim Crow Laws

Historical Racial Regime Score - a principal component of institutionalized repression index

Methodology:

Estimation of free-enslaved gap with and without state controls

RDD comparing families released near state borders with different severity of Jim Crow

County-level variation in Rosenwald schools

Results: There exists a persistent gap between the Free Black families and Enslaved Black families, of around 40% of the Black-White gap

State effects completely explain Free-Enslaved gap, and using the border discontinuity on Jim Crow intensity shows state effects are driven by Jim Crow regimes

Rosenwald program closed 80% of gap caused by Jim Crow, improved 2nd generation outcomes

Key Table/Figure: