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Comment on "Historical Lynchings and the Contemporary Voting Behavior of Blacks"

Author

Listed:
  • Haddad, Joanne
  • Kattan, Lamis
  • Wochner, Timo

Abstract

Williams (2022) ties the political participation of Blacks to historical lynchings that occurred in the United States. Her findings document lower Black voter registration rates in southern counties with greater number of historical lynchings. We show that this effect is driven by four outlier counties with relatively high Black lynching rates. Excluding these counties from the analysis yields a point estimate that is no longer statistically significant. Dropping the ninety-fifth percentile lynching rates and correcting the errors in voter registration rates rule out the effect size reported by Williams (2022), which now becomes close to zero and statistically insignificant. We also show that the main results are highly sensitive to the way lynching and voter registration rates are measured.

Suggested Citation

  • Haddad, Joanne & Kattan, Lamis & Wochner, Timo, 2023. "Comment on "Historical Lynchings and the Contemporary Voting Behavior of Blacks"," I4R Discussion Paper Series 32, The Institute for Replication (I4R), revised 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:32
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    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/272843/1/I4R-DP032rev.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lisa Cook, 2014. "Violence and economic activity: evidence from African American patents, 1870–1940," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 221-257, June.
    2. Jhacova Williams, 2022. "Historical Lynchings and the Contemporary Voting Behavior of Blacks," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 224-253, July.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N41 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N42 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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