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Land and Racial Wealth Inequality

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  • Melinda C. Miller

Abstract

Could racial wealth inequality have been reduced if freed slaves had been granted land following the Civil War? This paper exploits a plausibly exogenous variation in policies of the Cherokee Nation and southern United States to identify the impact of free land on the size of the racial wealth gap. Using data on land, livestock, and home ownership, I find evidence that former slaves who had access to free land were absolutely wealthier and experienced lower levels of racial wealth inequality in 1880 than former slaves who did not. Furthermore, their children continued to experience these advantages in 1900.

Suggested Citation

  • Melinda C. Miller, 2011. "Land and Racial Wealth Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 371-376, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:101:y:2011:i:3:p:371-76
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.101.3.371
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Higgs, Robert, 1982. "Accumulation of Property by Southern Blacks before World War I," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(4), pages 725-737, September.
    2. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Barsky R. & Bound J. & Charles K.K. & Lupton J.P., 2002. "Accounting for the Black-White Wealth Gap: A Nonparametric Approach," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 97, pages 663-673, September.
    4. Margo, Robert A, 1984. "Accumulation of Property by Southern Blacks before World War I: Comment and Further Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 768-776, September.
    5. Joseph P. Ferrie, 1995. "A New Sample of Americans Linked from the 1850 Public Use Micro Sampleofthe Federal Census of Population to the1860 Federal Census Manuscript Sched," NBER Historical Working Papers 0071, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Kearl, J R & Pope, Clayne L, 1986. "Unobservable Family and Individual Contributions to the Distributionsof Income and Wealth," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 48-79, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Murtazashvili, Ilia & Murtazashvili, Jennifer, 2016. "The origins of private property rights: states or customary organizations?," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 105-128, March.
    2. Harris,Colin & Cai,Meina & Murtazashvili,Ilia & Murtazashvili,Jennifer Brick, 2020. "The Origins and Consequences of Property Rights," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108969055, October.
    3. Melinda C. Miller, 2018. "Destroyed by Slavery? Slavery and African American Family Formation Following Emancipation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1587-1609, October.
    4. Ilia Murtazashvili & Jennifer Murtazashvili, 2019. "The political economy of legal titling," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 251-268, September.

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