Racial Diversity, Electoral Preferences, and the Supply of Policy: The Great Migration and Civil Rights

146 Pages Posted: 8 May 2021

See all articles by Alvaro Calderon

Alvaro Calderon

Stanford University

Vasiliki Fouka

Stanford University

Marco Tabellini

Harvard Business School

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Abstract

Between 1940 and 1970 more than 4 million African Americans moved from the South to the North of the United States, during the Second Great Migration. This same period witnessed the struggle and eventual success of the civil rights movement in ending institutionalized racial discrimination. This paper shows that the Great Migration and support for civil rights are causally linked. Predicting Black inflows with a version of the shift-share instrument, we find that the Great Migration increased support for the Democratic Party and encouraged pro-civil rights activism in northern and western counties. These effects were driven by both Black and white voters, and were stronger in counties with a lower history of discrimination and with a larger working class and unionized white population. Mirroring the changes in the electorate, non-southern Congress members became more likely to promote civil rights legislation. Yet, these average effects mask heterogeneity in the behavior of legislators, who grew increasingly polarized along party lines on racial issues. Overall, our findings indicate that the Great Migration promoted Black political empowerment outside the South. They also suggest that, under certain conditions, cross-race coalitions can be major drivers of social and political change.

JEL Classification: D72, J15, N92

Suggested Citation

Calderon, Alvaro and Fouka, Vasiliki and Tabellini, Marco, Racial Diversity, Electoral Preferences, and the Supply of Policy: The Great Migration and Civil Rights. IZA Discussion Paper No. 14312, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3841893 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3841893

Alvaro Calderon (Contact Author)

Stanford University ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Vasiliki Fouka

Stanford University ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Marco Tabellini

Harvard Business School ( email )

Soldiers Field Road
Morgan 270C
Boston, MA 02163
United States

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