CAREER: Long-Run Determinants of Racial Inequality in the US

美国黑人和白人之间的经济差距仍然是当今美国最显著的不平等形式之一。许多关于种族不平等的经济学文献关注的是歧视的作用，然而这个框架解释了美国黑人和白人之间差距的下降。这项CAREER研究使用三个项目和历史视角来确定种族差异的决定因素，并阐明这些差距发生和持续存在的渠道。该项目将原始数据收集与自然实验相结合，重点关注种族收入和财富不平等的历史和制度决定因素。第一个项目研究南方种族隔离地区黑人被剥夺政治权利对黑人财富积累的影响，第二个项目研究美国社会保险和劳动政策设计在产生和延续种族财富不平等方面的作用。第三个项目将研究大迁徙与北方大规模监禁政策之间的联系，这些政策对黑人男性造成了不成比例的影响，使他们在劳动力市场上处于严重劣势。每一个项目都涉及大量原始历史数据的收集和数字化。本研究项目的成果将为减少收入和财富不平等以及促进公平增长的政策提供重要投入。本研究采用三个项目来推进经济史和劳动经济学的文献。第一个项目探讨了从废除奴隶制到现在种族财富缓慢趋同的决定因素，通过研究吉姆·克劳制度下黑人财富的增长来检验政治上的权力剥夺对财富积累的影响。它将南部六个州的年度县级黑人和白人财富记录数字化，并利用各州限制黑人选举权的法律的交错推出来评估选举权限制对经济流动性的影响。第二个项目探讨了美国社会保险和劳动政策设计在种族不平等演变中的作用。该项目将1937年至2020年的州一级失业保险政策数字化，并研究人口变化对州政策的作用，以及资格和慷慨程度变化对种族差距的影响。第三个项目调查了向北大迁徙与大规模监禁现象之间的联系，这种现象对黑人男性造成了不成比例的影响，使他们在劳动力市场上处于严重的不利地位。该项目根据北部几十个州的刑事法庭记录以及20世纪市政条例的数据，构建了因果管辖权严重程度的衡量标准。它利用这些数据来调查大迁徙与美国城市对惩罚性社会政策的日益依赖之间的联系，这些政策导致黑人被大规模监禁。这一研究项目的结果将为减少收入不平等和促进公平增长的政策提供重要投入。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Economic disparities between Black and White Americans remain one of the most striking forms of inequality in the US today. Much of the economics literature on racial inequality focuses on the role of discrimination, yet this framework explains a declining share of the gaps between Black and White Americans. This CAREER research uses three projects and a historical perspective to identify the determinants of racial disparities and shed light on the channels through which these gaps occur and persist. The project combines original data collection with natural experiments and focuses on historical and institutional determinants of racial income and wealth inequality. The first project studies the effects of political disenfranchisement of Blacks in Jim Crow South on Black wealth accumulation while the second project studies the role of US social insurance and labor policy design in generating and perpetuating racial wealth inequality. The third project will study the link between the Great Migration North and mass incarceration policies in the North that disproportionately affected Black men, putting them at a severe disadvantage in the labor market. Each of these projects involves the collection and digitization of large original historical data. The results of this research project will provide important inputs into policies to reduce income and wealth inequality as well as generate equitable growth. This CAREER research uses three projects to advance the literature in economic history and labor economics. The first project explores the determinants of slow racial wealth convergence from the abolition of slavery to the present, testing for the effect of political dis-empowerment on wealth accumulation by studying the growth of Black wealth under Jim Crow. It digitizes annual, county-level records of Black and White wealth for six southern states and uses the staggered rollout of state laws limiting Black franchise to assess the impact of franchise restrictions on economic mobility. The second project explores the role of US social insurance and labor policy design in the evolution of racial inequality. The project digitizes state-level unemployment insurance policy from 1937 to 2020 and examines the role of demographic change on state policies as well as the impact of changes in eligibility and generosity on racial gaps. The third project investigates the link between the Great Migration North and the phenomenon of mass incarceration, which disproportionately affected Black men and placed them at serious disadvantage in the labor market. The project constructs causal jurisdiction severity measures from criminal court records from dozens of northern states as well as data on municipal ordinances spanning the 20th century. It uses these data to investigate the link between the Great Migration North and increased reliance on punitive social policy in American cities that leads to mass incarceration of Black men. The results of this research project will provide important inputs into policies to reduce income inequality as well as generate equitable growth.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.