Working Paper: NBER ID: w14869
Authors: Elizabeth Cascio; Nora Gordon; Ethan Lewis; Sarah Reber
Abstract: This paper examines how a large conditional grants program influenced school desegregation in the American South. Exploiting newly collected archival data and quasi-experimental variation in potential per-pupil federal grants, we show that school districts with more at risk in 1966 were more likely to desegregate just enough to receive their funds. Although the program did not raise the exposure of blacks to whites like later court orders, districts with larger grants at risk in 1966 were less likely to be under court order through 1970, suggesting that tying federal funds to nondiscrimination reduced the burden of desegregation on federal courts.
Keywords: Conditional grants; Desegregation; Southern schools; Federal funding; Civil Rights Act
JEL Codes: H7; I21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Title I funding per pupil (I24) | likelihood of having less than 2% of black students in desegregated schools (I24) |
| Title I funding per pupil (I24) | probability of having 2-6% of black students in desegregated schools (C46) |
| Title I funding per pupil (I24) | likelihood of districts being under court order (K16) |
| conditional federal grants (H77) | minimal levels of desegregation (I24) |
| conditional federal grants (H77) | black students' exposure to white students (I24) |