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Title: Slavery, Reconstruction, and Bureaucratic Capacity in the American South
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2019
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ISSN: 1556-5068
DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2951964
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Abstract: Conventional political economy models predict taxation will increase after franchise expansion to low-income voters. We argue that in societies where social status is a cleavage, franchise extension to low-status groups may lead to both redistribution and social integration. Therefore, elites can use the threat of desegregation to unite wealthy and poor members of high-status groups against taxation and the bureaucratic capacity required to collect taxes. We study the effects of extending voting rights to African Americans after the Civil War. During Reconstruction, under federal supervision , per capita taxation was higher in counties with more preWar slaveholdings. After Reconstruction, taxes fell and bureaucratic capacity was weaker where slavery was widespread. Moreover, higher intrawhite economic inequality was associated with lower taxes and capacity post-Reconstruction in counties with more slavehold-ings. These results suggest that elites built cross-class coalitions against taxation where whites were threatened by desegregation and sought to protect their racial status.
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Authors: Suryanarayan, Pavithra; White, Steven
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Race and Ethnicity
Countries: United States