Working Paper: NBER ID: w2242
Authors: Robert A. Margo
Abstract: Everyone knows that public school officials in the American South violated the Supreme Court's separate-but-equal decision. But did the violations matter? Yes, enforcement of separate-but-equal would have narrowed racial differences in school attendance in the early twentieth century South. But separate-but-equal was not enough. Black children still would have attended school less often than white children because black parents were poorer and less literate than white parents.
Keywords: school attendance; racial differences; separate but equal; educational discrimination
JEL Codes: N32; I21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| racial differences in school characteristics (I24) | racial difference in attendance (J15) |
| parental characteristics (J12) | racial difference in school attendance (I24) |
| racial disparities in literacy levels among parents (I24) | attendance gap (I24) |
| school quality (I21) | attendance (I29) |
| race (J15) | observed differences in attendance (I24) |
| enforcement of the separate-but-equal doctrine (J78) | increased school attendance for black children (I24) |
| parental income and literacy (I24) | attendance (I29) |