Was Freedom Road a Dead End? Socio-economic effects of Reconstruction in the American South

Jeffry Frieden, Richard Grossman and Daniel Lowery

No 18844, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We investigate how Reconstruction affected socio-economic advancement after the American Civil War. We use the location of federal troops and Freedmen’s Bureau offices to indicate more intensive federal enforcement of civil rights. We find greater political empowerment and socio-economic advances by Blacks where Reconstruction was more rigorously enforced and that those effects persisted at least until the early twentieth century, although these advances were weaker in cotton-plantation zones. We suggest a mechanism leading from greater Black political power to higher local property taxes, through to higher levels of Black schooling and greater Black socio-economic achievement.

Keywords: Reconstruction; Institutions; Economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N31 O1 O51 P1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-02
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Working Paper: Was Freedom Road a Dead End? Socio-economic effects of Reconstruction in the American South (2025)
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