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Slavery, Education, and Inequality

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  • Graziella Bertocchi

    ()

  • Arcangelo Dimico

    ()

Abstract

We investigate the impact of slavery on the current performances of the US economy. Over a cross section of counties, we find that the legacy of slavery does not affect current income per capita, but does affect current income inequality. In other words, those counties that displayed a higher proportion of slaves are currently not poorer, but more unequal. Moreover, we find that the impact of slavery on current income inequality is determined by racial inequality. We test three alternative channels of transmission between slavery and inequality: a land inequality theory, a racial discrimination theory and a human capital theory. We find support for the third theory, i. e., even after controlling for potential endogeneity, current inequality is primarily influenced by slavery through the unequal educational attainment of blacks and whites. To improve our understanding of the dynamics of racial inequality along the educational dimension, we complete our investigation by analyzing a panel dataset covering the 1940-2000 period at the state level. Consistently with our previous findings, we find that the educational racial gap significantly depends on the initial gap, which was indeed larger in the former slave states.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by University of Modena and Reggio E., Dept. of Economics in its series Center for Economic Research (RECent) with number 051.

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Length: pages 34
Date of creation: Oct 2010
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:mod:recent:051

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Web page: http://www.recent.unimore.it/
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Keywords: Slavery; development; inequality; institutions; education;

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References

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  1. Alan Krueger & Mikael Lindahl, 2000. "Education for Growth: Why and For Whom?," Working Papers 808, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
  2. Bruce Sacerdote, 2005. "Slavery and the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(2), pages 217-234, May.
  3. Nunn, Nathan, 2007. "The Long-Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades," MPRA Paper 4134, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  4. Summerhill, William, 2010. "Colonial Institutions, Slavery, Inequality, and Development: Evidence from São Paulo, Brazil," MPRA Paper 22162, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  5. Robert A. Margo, 1990. "Race and Schooling in the South, 1880-1950: An Economic History," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number marg90-1, October.
  6. Kris James Mitchener & Ian W. McLean, 2003. "The Productivity of U.S. States Since 1880," NBER Working Papers 9445, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  7. Heckman, James J, 1990. "The Central Role of the South in Accounting for the Economic Progress of Black Americans," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 242-46, May.
  8. Kenneth L. Sokoloff & Stanley L. Engerman, 2000. "Institutions, Factor Endowments, and Paths of Development in the New World," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 217-232, Summer.
  9. Oded Galor & Omer Moav & Dietrich Vollrath, 2009. "Inequality in Landownership, the Emergence of Human-Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 143-179, 01.
  10. Rappaport, Jordan & Sachs, Jeffrey D, 2003. " The United States as a Coastal Nation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 5-46, March.
  11. William J. Collins & Robert A. Margo, 2003. "Historical Perspectives on Racial Differences in Schooling in the United States," NBER Working Papers 9770, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  12. Rodney Ramcharan, 2010. "Inequality and Redistribution: Evidence from U.S. Counties and States, 1890-1930," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 729-744, November.
  13. Smith, James P, 1984. "Race and Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 685-98, September.
  14. Michael Lokshin & Zurab Sajaia, 2006. "EGEN_INEQUAL: Stata module providing extensions to generate inequality and poverty measures," Statistical Software Components S456711, Boston College Department of Economics.
  15. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution," NBER Working Papers 8460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  16. Smith, James P & Welch, Finis R, 1989. "Black Economic Progress after Myrdal," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 27(2), pages 519-64, June.
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Citations

Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. On the consequences of slavery
    by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2010-11-30 15:31:00
  2. Creations of history
    by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2011-02-01 15:34:53
  3. The Legacy of Slavery
    by Ariel Goldring in Free Market Mojo on 2010-11-09 14:00:22
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Cited by:
  1. Jeorge Álvarez & Ennio Bilancini & Simone D’Alessandro & Gabriel Porcile, 2010. "Agricultural Institutions, Industrialization and Growth: the Case of New Zealand and Uruguay in 1870-1940," Department of Economics 0635, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
  2. Bertocchi, Graziella & Dimico, Arcangelo, 2011. "Race v. Suffrage: The Determinants of Development in Mississippi," IZA Discussion Papers 6017, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Bertocchi, Graziella & Dimico, Arcangelo, 2012. "De Jure and de Facto Determinants of Power: Evidence from Mississippi," CEPR Discussion Papers 9064, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  4. Bertocchi, Graziella & Dimico, Arcangelo, 2011. "The Evolution of the Racial Gap in Education and the Legacy of Slavery," CEPR Discussion Papers 8711, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  5. repec:mod:depeco:0001 is not listed on IDEAS
  6. Bertocchi, Graziella, 2011. "Growth, Colonization, and Institutional Development: In and Out of Africa," CEPR Discussion Papers 8486, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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