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Segregated Schools and the Mobility Hypothesis: A Model of Local Government Discrimination

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  • Robert A. Margo

Abstract

Around the turn of the century, Southern blacks lost the right to vote and discrimination against them by local government officials intensified. This paper argues that, in the case of the de jure segregated public schools attended by black children, the ability of Southern blacks to ''vote with their feet" placed limits on local government discrimination.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert A. Margo, 1990. "Segregated Schools and the Mobility Hypothesis: A Model of Local Government Discrimination," NBER Historical Working Papers 0017, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberhi:0017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    2. Orazem, Peter F, 1987. "Black-White Differences in Schooling Investment and Human Capital Production in Segregated Schools," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 714-723, September.
    3. Becker, Gary S., 1971. "The Economics of Discrimination," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 2, number 9780226041162, February.
    4. Fishback, Price V, 1989. "Can Competition among Employers Reduce Governmental Discrimination? Coal Companies and Segregated Schools in West Virginia in the Early 1900s," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(2), pages 311-328, October.
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    2. Robert A. Margo, 2004. "Ideology, Government, and the American Dilemma," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0411, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics, revised May 2004.
    3. Collins, William J. & Margo, Robert A., 2006. "Historical Perspectives on Racial Differences in Schooling in the United States," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 3, pages 107-154, Elsevier.
    4. Richard Hornbeck & Suresh Naidu, 2014. "When the Levee Breaks: Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(3), pages 963-990, March.
    5. Maurer, Stephan E., 2019. "Oil discoveries and education provision in the Postbellum South," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    6. Boustan, Leah Platt, 2009. "Competition in the Promised Land: Black Migration and Racial Wage Convergence in the North, 1940–1970," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(3), pages 755-782, September.
    7. Andrea Bernini & Giovanni Facchini & Marco Tabellini & Cecilia Testa, 2025. "Black Empowerment and White Mobilization: The Effects of the Voting Rights Act," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 133(10), pages 3078-3131.
    8. Edward L. Glaeser & Yueran Ma, 2014. "The Supply of Gender Stereotypes and Discriminatory Beliefs," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital in History: The American Record, pages 355-389, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Celeste K. Carruthers & Marianne H. Wanamaker, 2015. "Municipal Housekeeping: The Impact of Women's Suffrage on Public Education," NBER Working Papers 20864, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Niclas Berggren & Christian Bjørnskov, 2024. "Institutions as predictors of government discrimination," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(3), pages 642-663, August.
    11. Baker, Richard B., 2019. "Finding the fat: The relative impact of budget fluctuations on African-American schools," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 93-113.
    12. Alvaro Calderon & Vasiliki Fouka & Marco Tabellini, 2021. "Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 2133, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    13. Samuel Staley & John Blair, 1995. "Institutions, quality competition and public service provision: The case of public education," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 21-33, December.
    14. Calderon, Alvaro & Fouka, Vasiliki & Tabellini, Marco, 2021. "Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights," IZA Discussion Papers 14488, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Frank A. Sloan & Harold H. Zhang & Jingshu Wang, 2002. "Upstream Intergenerational Transfers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(2), pages 363-380, October.
    16. Canaday, Neil & Tamura, Robert, 2009. "White discrimination in provision of black education: Plantations and towns," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1490-1530, July.
    17. James J. Feigenbaum & Soumyajit Mazumder & Cory B. Smith, 2020. "When Coercive Economies Fail: The Political Economy of the US South After the Boll Weevil," NBER Working Papers 27161, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Ellora Derenoncourt, 2022. "Can You Move to Opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(2), pages 369-408, February.
    19. Mounir Karadja & Erik Prawitz, 2019. "Exit, Voice, and Political Change: Evidence from Swedish Mass Migration to the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(4), pages 1864-1925.
    20. Carruthers, Celeste K. & Wanamaker, Marianne H., 2013. "Closing the gap? The effect of private philanthropy on the provision of African-American schooling in the U.S. south," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 53-67.
    21. Tabellini, Marco & Calderon, Alvaro & Fouka, Vasiliki, 2021. "Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights," CEPR Discussion Papers 14318, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    22. Suresh Naidu, 2012. "Suffrage, Schooling, and Sorting in the Post-Bellum U.S. South," NBER Working Papers 18129, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. 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, IZA Network @ LISER.

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