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Evaluating the Role of Brown vs. Board of Education in School Equalization, Desegregation, and the Income of African Americans

Author

Listed:
  • Orley Ashenfelter

    (Department of Economics, Princeton University)

  • William J. Collins

    (Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University)

  • Albert Yoon

    (School of Law, Northwestern University)

Abstract

In this paper we study the long-term labor market implications of school resource equalization before Brown and school desegregation after Brown. For cohorts born in the South in the 1920s and 1930s, we find that racial disparities in measurable school characteristics had a substantial influence on black malesÕ earnings and educational attainment measured in 1970, albeit one that was smaller in the later cohorts. When we examine the income of male workers in 1990, we find that southern-born blacks who finished their schooling just before effective desegregation occurred in the South fared poorly compared to southern-born blacks who followed behind them in school by just a few years.

Suggested Citation

  • Orley Ashenfelter & William J. Collins & Albert Yoon, 2005. "Evaluating the Role of Brown vs. Board of Education in School Equalization, Desegregation, and the Income of African Americans," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0515, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:van:wpaper:0515
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:fth:prinin:357 is not listed on IDEAS
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Discrimination; schooling; South; NAACP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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