 Formation of the legacy of slavery: Evidence from the US SouthYeonha Jung European Economic Review, 2023, vol. 154, issue C Abstract: Where slavery had been more prevalent, African Americans accumulated human capital at a slower rate after the Civil War. However, the shadow of slavery emerged after Reconstruction. This study suggests a mechanism by which the historical prevalence of slavery led to selective application of post-Reconstruction labor policies, which in turn reduced the effectiveness of Black human capital. Supporting this hypothesis, evidence indicates a decline in the return to Black literacy after Reconstruction with historical slave concentration. To identify the roles of post-Reconstruction policies, we examine the consequences of anti-enticement laws, which embodied the essence of labor polices after Reconstruction. Border-county analyses show that the laws were applied more effectively in slave-intensive counties, which reinforced racial hierarchy among workers and thus reduced the return to Black literacy. Evidence from the return to education echoes the findings from literacy. Keywords: Slavery; Post-Reconstruction; Return to human capital; Anti-enticement laws (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:154:y:2023:i:c:s0014292123000387 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104409 Access Statistics for this article European Economic Review is currently edited by T.S. Eicher, A. Imrohoroglu, E. Leeper, J. Oechssler and M. Pesendorfer More articles in European Economic Review from Elsevier |
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