The Federal Effort to Desegregate Southern Hospitals and the Black-White Infant Mortality Gap

D. Mark Anderson (), Kerwin Kofi Charles () and Daniel I. Rees ()
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D. Mark Anderson: Montana State University
Kerwin Kofi Charles: Yale University
Daniel I. Rees: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

No 13920, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In 1966, Southern hospitals were barred from participating in Medicare unless they discontinued their long-standing practice of racial segregation. Using data from five Deep South states and exploiting county-level variation in Medicare certification dates, we find that gaining access to an ostensibly integrated hospital had no effect on the Black-White infant mortality gap, although it may have discouraged small numbers of Black mothers from giving birth at home attended by a midwife. These results are consistent with descriptions of the federal hospital desegregation campaign as producing only cosmetic changes and illustrate the limits of anti-discrimination policies imposed upon reluctant actors.

Keywords: hospital desegregation; black infant mortality; Medicare; civil rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I14 I18 N32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 84 pages
Date: 2020-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-his and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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