Full Citation
Title: The Political Economy of Incarceration in the U.S. South, 1910-1925
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2019
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Abstract: A large theoretical literature in sociology connects increasing rates of incarceration to contractions in the labor market. But evidence for the economic causes of incarceration is mixed. We use a shock to the southern agricultural labor market to study the political economy of incarceration in the U.S. South in the early twentieth century. From 1915 to 1920, a beetle called the boll weevil spread across the state of Georgia, causing cotton yields and the prevalence of tenant farming to fall. Using archival records of incarceration in Georgia, we find that the boll weevil infestation increased the rate at which African Americans were admitted to prison for property crimes. The effects for whites and for prison admissions for homicide were much smaller and not statistically significant.
Url: https://escholarship.org/content/qt8491764z/qt8491764z.pdf
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Authors: Muller, Christopher; Schrage, Daniel
Series Title: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
Publication Number: 105-19
Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Pages: 1-34
Publisher Location: California
Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS NHGIS
Topics: Crime and Deviance, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Natural Resource Management, Race and Ethnicity
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