When the Levee Breaks: Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South

Richard Hornbeck and Suresh Naidu

American Economic Review, 2014, vol. 104, issue 3, 963-90

Abstract: In the American South, post-bellum economic development may have been restricted in part by white landowners' access to low-wage black labor. This paper examines the impact of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 on black out-migration and subsequent agricultural development. Flooded counties experienced an immediate and persistent out-migration of black population. Over time, landowners in flooded counties modernized agricultural production and increased its capital intensity relative to landowners in nearby similar non-flooded counties. Landowners resisted black out-migration, however, benefiting from the status quo system of labor-intensive agricultural production.

JEL-codes: J15 J43 N32 N52 N92 Q54 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.3.963
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (186)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.104.3.963 (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/10403/20120980_data.zip (application/zip)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/ds/10403/20120980_ds.zip (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: When the Levee Breaks: Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:104:y:2014:i:3:p:963-90

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().