This paper 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：

---

吉姆·克劳与奴隶制后的黑人经济进步


本文研究了奴隶制和限制性种族隔离制度对美国黑人经济成果的长期影响。我们追踪了 1850 年至 1940 年每个黑人家庭的个人人口普查记录，并将我们的分析扩展到 2000 年的社区层面结果和 2023 年基于姓氏的结果。与祖先在内战前获得自由的黑人家庭相比，他们的教育、收入和财富较低。这两个群体之间的差距一直存在，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实行严格的吉姆·克劳制度的州。在基于祖先被奴役地点的回归断点设计中，我们表明，从长远来看，种族隔离制度大大降低了黑人家庭的经济进步。