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Title: Access to Schooling and the Black-White Crime Gap in the Early 20th Century US South: Evidence from Rosenwald Schools
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2014
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Abstract: A large gap in incarceration rates between black and white men has been evident since the early 20th century. This paper examines the effect of access to schooling on black incarceration in this historic period. I use the construction of 5,000 new schools in the US South, funded by philanthropist Julius Rosenwald between 1913 and 1932, as a quasi-natural experiment that increased the educational attainment of southern black students. I link individuals across Census waves in order to assign exposure to a Rosenwald school during childhood and to measure adult incarceration. I find that one year of access to a Rosenwald school decreased the probability of being a prisoner by 0.1 percentage points (seven percent of the mean). Using other data from archival and government sources, I find that Rosenwald schools affected juvenile crime and all categories of adult crime. Multiple identification strategies corroborate my results. I investigate the channels through which Rosenwald schools reduced crime, including educational attainment, school quality, and migration responses. Effects are largest in counties with strong rule of law. These results contribute to a broader literature on racial gaps in social outcomes in the US throughout the 20th century.
Url: http://economics.ucdavis.edu/events/departmentseminars/papers/ErikssonKatherine115.pdf
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Authors: Eriksson, Katherine
Publisher: California Polytechnic State University
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Crime and Deviance, Education, Race and Ethnicity
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