This article studies the long-run effects of slavery and restrictive Jim Crow institutions on Black Americans’ economic outcomes. We track individual-level census records of each Black family from 1850 to 1940 and extend our analysis to neighborhood-level outcomes in 2000 and surname-based outcomes in 2023. We show that Black families whose ancestors were enslaved until the Civil War have considerably lower education, income, and wealth than Black families whose ancestors were free before the Civil War. The disparities between the two groups have persisted substantially because most families enslaved until the Civil War lived in states with strict Jim Crow regimes after slavery ended. In a regression discontinuity design based on ancestors’ enslavement locations, we show that Jim Crow institutions sharply reduced Black families’ economic progress in the long run.

中文翻译：

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吉姆·克劳 （Jim Crow） 和奴隶制后的黑人经济进步


本文研究了奴隶制和限制性的吉姆·克劳 （Jim Crow） 制度对美国黑人经济结果的长期影响。我们跟踪 1850 年至 1940 年每个黑人家庭的个人层面的人口普查记录，并将我们的分析扩展到 2000 年的社区级结果和 2023 年的基于姓氏的结果。我们表明，祖先在内战前被奴役的黑人家庭的教育、收入和财富比祖先在内战前获得自由的黑人家庭低得多。这两个群体之间的差异一直存在，因为大多数在内战之前被奴役的家庭在奴隶制结束后都生活在吉姆·克劳 （Jim Crow） 政权严格的州。在基于祖先奴役位置的回归不连续性设计中，我们表明，从长远来看，Jim Crow 制度急剧降低了黑人家庭的经济进步。