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  • January 2023
  • Article
  • Review of Economic Studies

Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights

By: Alvaro Calderon, Vasiliki Fouka and Marco Tabellini
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:36
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Abstract

Between 1940 and 1970, more than 4 million African Americans moved from the South to the North of the United States, during the Second Great Migration. This same period witnessed the struggle and eventual success of the civil rights movement in ending institutionalized racial discrimination. This paper shows that the Great Migration and support for civil rights are causally linked. Predicting Black inflows with a shift-share instrument, we find that the Great Migration raised support for the Democratic Party, increased Congress members' propensity to promote civil rights legislation, and encouraged pro-civil rights activism outside the U.S. South. We provide different pieces of evidence that support for civil rights was not confined to the Black electorate, but was also shared by segments of the white population.

Keywords

Civil Rights; Great Migration; History; Race; Rights; Prejudice and Bias; Government Legislation

Citation

Calderon, Alvaro, Vasiliki Fouka, and Marco Tabellini. "Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights." Review of Economic Studies 90, no. 1 (January 2023): 165–200. (Available also from VOX, Broadstreet, and VOX EU.)
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About The Author

Marco E. Tabellini

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Extractive Taxation and the French Revolution By: Tommaso Giommoni, Gabriel Loumeau and Marco Tabellini
  • South Africa: Growth and Inequality By: Marco Tabellini, Marlous van Waijenburg and Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon
  • Population Aging in the U.S.: Is America Ready for the 'Silver Tsunami?' By: Marco Tabellini
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