Working Paper: NBER ID: w26014
Authors: Trevon D. Logan
Abstract: This paper provides the first evidence of the effect of tax policy on the likelihood of violent attacks against black politicians. I find a strong positive effect of local tax revenue on subsequent violence against black politicians. A dollar increase in per capita county taxes increases the likelihood of a violent attack by more than 25%. The result is robust to numerous economic, social, historical, and political factors. I also find that counties where black officeholders were attacked had the largest negative tax revenue changes between 1870 and 1880 and that violence against black politicians is unrelated to other forms of post-Reconstruction racial violence. This provides the first quantitative evidence that political violence at Reconstruction's end was related to black political efficacy.
Keywords: Political violence; Tax policy; Black politicians; Reconstruction; Public finance
JEL Codes: H2; H7; J10; N3; N90; R1; R51
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| violence against black politicians (K42) | unrelated to general racial violence (J15) |
| local tax revenue (H71) | likelihood of violent attacks against black politicians (K16) |
| per capita county taxes (H79) | likelihood of violent attacks against black politicians (K16) |
| tax policy (H20) | violence against black politicians (K42) |
| counties with black officeholders (J15) | likelihood of violence against black politicians (K16) |