Working Paper: NBER ID: w19040
Authors: Leah Platt Boustan; William J. Collins
Abstract: Black women were more likely than white women to participate in the labor force from 1870 until at least 1980 and to hold jobs in agriculture or manufacturing. Differences in observables cannot account for most of this racial gap in labor force participation for the 100 years after Emancipation. The unexplained racial gap may be due to racial differences in stigma associated with women's work, which Goldin (1977) suggested could be traced to cultural norms rooted in slavery. In both nineteenth and twentieth century data, we find evidence of inter-generation transmission of labor force participation from mother to daughter, which is consistent with the role of cultural norms.
Keywords: Labor Force Participation; Racial Differences; Intergenerational Transmission; Cultural Norms
JEL Codes: J22; N11; N12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| cultural norms and stigma associated with women's work (J16) | labor force participation (J22) |
| race (J15) | labor force participation (J22) |
| mother's labor force participation (J22) | daughter's labor force participation (J49) |
| intergenerational transmission of work behavior (J29) | daughter's labor force participation (J49) |