Reconstruction-Era Education and Long-Run Black-White Inequality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Jones, Daniel B.; Schmick, Ethan
• 署名单位: Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); University of Pittsburgh
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20230125
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 165-196
• 关键词: economic outcomes; schools; laborers; south; gap

摘要

The Reconstruction era of American history (c. 1866-1877) saw widespread efforts to educate recently freed people-efforts that were partially curtailed after Reconstruction. This paper examines the impact of childhood exposure to educational opportunity during Reconstruction on later-life outcomes for recently freed people. Using data on the number of teachers in Black schools and a linked census sample, we find that Black children exposed to greater educational opportunity during Reconstruction had improved occupational standing as adults. Their sons also experienced gains, suggesting that Reconstruction-era educational efforts, had they persisted, would have impacted Black-White gaps into the twentieth century. (JEL I21, I26, J13, J15, N31)