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Moving North and into jail? The great migration and black incarceration

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  • Eriksson, Katherine

Abstract

Black incarceration rates in the U.S. grew relative to white incarceration rates throughout the first half of the 20th century despite substantial convergence in education levels and wages between the two groups. This paper considers the First Great Migration prior to 1940 as a factor which increased black male incarceration rates. I construct an individual-level dataset of all Southern-born male prisoners and non-prisoners in the 1940 US Census; both groups are matched to their childhood household in the 1920 Census in order to control for across-household selection using household fixed effects. I estimate that migrating to the North roughly doubled an individual's chance of being incarcerated, increasing the probability of incarceration by 2 percentage points. I estimate that the Great Migration was responsible for about 6% of the sharp increase in black incarceration rates between 1920 and 1940.

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  • Eriksson, Katherine, 2019. "Moving North and into jail? The great migration and black incarceration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 526-538.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:159:y:2019:i:c:p:526-538
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2018.04.024
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    Cited by:

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    2. Melissa Rubio-Ramos, 2022. "From Plantations to Prisons: The Race Gap in Incarceration After the Abolition of Slavery in the U.S," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 195, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    3. Collins, William J., 2021. "The Great Migration of Black Americans from the US South: A guide and interpretation," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Shi, Ying & Hartley, Daniel & Mazumder, Bhash & Rajan, Aastha, 2022. "The effects of the Great Migration on urban renewal," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    5. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan & Katherine Eriksson & James Feigenbaum & Santiago Pérez, 2021. "Automated Linking of Historical Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 865-918, September.
    6. Gagliarducci, Stefano & Tabellini, Marco, 2021. "Faith and Assimilation: Italian Immigrants in the US," IZA Discussion Papers 14567, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Cavit Baran & Eric Chyn & Bryan A. Stuart, 2022. "The Great Migration and Educational Opportunity," Upjohn Working Papers 22-367, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    8. Calderon, Alvaro & Fouka, Vasiliki & Tabellini, Marco, 2021. "Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights," IZA Discussion Papers 14488, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Vu, Cecilia & Arcaya, Mariana C. & Kawachi, Ichiro & Williams, David R., 2023. "Moving to opportunity? Low birth weight outcomes among Southern-born Black mothers during the Great Migration," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    10. Calderon, Alvaro & Fouka, Vasiliki & Tabellini, Marco, 2021. "Racial Diversity, Electoral Preferences, and the Supply of Policy: The Great Migration and Civil Rights," IZA Discussion Papers 14312, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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