The Long-Run Effects of America's Largest Residential Racial Desegregation Program: Gautreaux

Eric Chyn, Robert Collinson and Danielle Sandler

No 33427, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper studies the effects of the largest residential racial desegregation initiative in U.S. history, the Gautreaux Assisted Housing Program. From the late 1970s to the 1990s, Gautreaux moved thousands of Black families into predominantly white neighborhoods to support racial and economic integration. We link historical program records to administrative data and use plausibly exogenous variation in neighborhood placements to study how desegregating moves impact children in the long-run. Being placed in the predominantly white neighborhoods targeted by the program significantly increases children’s future lifetime earnings and wealth. These moves also increase the likelihood of marriage and particularly raise the probability of being married to a white spouse. Moreover, placements through Gautreaux impact neighborhood choices in adulthood. Those placed in predominantly white neighborhoods during childhood live in more racially diverse areas with higher rates of upward mobility nearly 40 years later.

JEL-codes: H00 I30 J01 R38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-inv, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
Note: CH LS PE
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