Black Populations and Economic Growth: An Extreme Bounds Analysis of Mississippi County-Level Data

20 Pages Posted: 30 Jan 2007

See all articles by Andrew T. Young

Andrew T. Young

Texas Tech University - Rawls College of Business

Matthew John Higgins

University of Utah - Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

Daniel Levy

Bar-Ilan University - Department of Economics; Emory University - Department of Economics; International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University; Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis; International Centre for Economic Analysis

Date Written: January 29, 2007

Abstract

We use Mississippi county-level data on (per capita) income and the percentages of populations that are Black (henceforth Black) to examine the relationship between race and economic growth. The analysis is also conditioned on 40 other economic and socio-demographic variables. Given a negative and statistically significant partial correlation between income growth and Black, we ask if it is robust to exhaustive combinations of other conditioning variables (taken 3 at a time). The evidence suggests yes. Since even robust correlation does not imply causation, we then ask if other robust correlates with income growth play a roll in accounting for Black in the data. The answer "yes" is obtained for only one other robust correlate of the right sign: the percentage of a population that is below the poverty level.

Keywords: racial inequalities, Black populations, Solow growth model, speed of convergence, U.S. county-level data, Extreme Bounds Analysis, regional studies

JEL Classification: J15, O40, O11, O18, R11

Suggested Citation

Young, Andrew T. and Higgins, Matthew John and Levy, Daniel, Black Populations and Economic Growth: An Extreme Bounds Analysis of Mississippi County-Level Data (January 29, 2007). Emory Law and Economics Research Paper No. 07-06, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=960122 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.960122

Andrew T. Young (Contact Author)

Texas Tech University - Rawls College of Business ( email )

Lubbock, TX 79409
United States

Matthew John Higgins

University of Utah - Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy ( email )

1655 East Campus Center Dr.
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition ( email )

Marstallplatz 1
Munich, Bayern 80539
Germany

Daniel Levy

Bar-Ilan University - Department of Economics ( email )

Ramat-Gan, 5290002
Israel
+972 3 531-8345 (Phone)
+972 3 738-4034 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://econ.biu.ac.il/en/levy

Emory University - Department of Economics ( email )

1602 Fishburne Drive, Suite 306
Rich Building
Atlanta, GA 30322-0001
United States

HOME PAGE: http://economics.emory.edu/home/people/faculty/biography/levy-daniel.html

International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University ( email )

16 Zandukeli Street
Tbilisi, 0108
Georgia

Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis ( email )

Rimini
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.rcea.world/

International Centre for Economic Analysis ( email )

Wilfrid Laurier University
75 University Ave W.
Waterloo, Ontario N2L3C5
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://https://iceanet.org/

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