Collaborative Research: Understanding the Long-Run Effects of School Desegregation on Political and Social Preferences

校车是后民权时代公立学校废除种族隔离的两种主要方式之一。虽然校车对教育结果的影响已经被研究过，但关于校车对政治意识形态和社会互动的长期影响却知之甚少。这项研究项目将使用历史数据结合大量调查数据来研究巴士对那些实际经历过巴士的人的政治、意识形态和种族态度的长期影响。这项研究使用了路易斯维尔实验中的数据，在该实验中，使用抽签系统将一些白人学生分配到少数族裔学校，为期两年，而另一些学生则被安排一年，而其他学生则不被巴士接送。研究人员利用这种差异，在不同的队列和学生群体之间进行公交车作业，以研究公交车对政治态度的影响。本研究结合档案资料、大量调查数据和差异估计策略，以肯塔基州路易斯维尔20世纪70年代中期的自然实验为研究对象，对45年后公共汽车对政治偏好的因果影响进行了估计。在“路易斯维尔实验”中，根据学生姓氏的第一个字母，让他们在不同的年龄接受巴士接送。对于最初的白人群体，这导致一些学生被分配了两年的校车，而另一些学生只接受了一年的校车，或者没有校车。利用这一不同群体和不同姓氏的学生群体之间的差异，该研究项目将估计校车对政治偏好和态度的长期因果影响。具体地说，私人投资机构使用差异法来估计巴士对党派之争、选民投票率和政治捐款的因果影响。这项研究还将调查巴士对种族态度和对收入支持计划的支持的影响。这项研究的结果将使我们更好地了解融合计划的长期和更广泛的影响。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Busing was one of the two main ways through which public schools were desegregated in the post-Civil Rights era. While the effects of busing on educational outcomes have been studied, not much is known about the long term effects of busing on political ideology and social interactions. This research project will use historical data combined with a large survey data to study the long-run effects of busing on political, ideology, and racial attitudes of those who actually experienced busing. This study uses data from the “Louisville Experiment” in which a lottery system was used to assign some white students to be bused to minority schools for two years while others were bused for one year with others not being bused at al. The researchers use this variation is busing assignment across different cohorts and between groups of students to study the effects of busing on political attitudes. This research results will provide a broader understanding of the effects of busing and its unintended effects generally.This research project combines archival data, a large survey data, and a difference-in-difference estimation strategy to estimate the causal impact of being bused on political preferences forty-five years later using a natural experiment from the mid-1970s in Louisville, KY. The “Louisville Experiment” assigned students to be bused at different ages based on the first letter of their last name. For the initial cohorts of whites, this resulted in some students being assigned to two years of busing while others received only one year or no busing. Using this variation across cohorts and between groups of students with different last names, the research project will estimate the long-run causal impact of busing on political preferences and attitudes. Specifically, the PIs use difference-in-difference methods to estimate the causal effects of busing on partisanship, voter turn-out, and political donations. The research will also investigate the effects of busing on racial attitudes and support for income support programs. The results of this research will provide a better understanding of the long-term broader impacts of integration programs. It could inform policies to improve racial integration and probably improve social harmony.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.