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Oil discoveries and education provision in the Postbellum South

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  • Maurer, Stephan E.

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of oil wealth on the provision of education in the early 20th century United States. Using information on the location and discovery of major oil fields, I find that oil wealth increased local revenue and education spending. However, population increased, and as consequence, schooling quality did not improve across the board. Nominal teacher wages increased, and oil-rich counties were more likely to participate in the Rosenwald school building program for blacks. However, neither student-teacher ratios nor school attendance rates improved in the wake of oil discoveries.

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  • Maurer, Stephan E., 2019. "Oil discoveries and education provision in the Postbellum South," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:73:y:2019:i:c:s0272775718307817
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.101925
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Oil; Education; Race; Rosenwald; Local public finances; Resource booms; Teachers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy
    • Q3 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation

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