When the Levee Breaks: Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South
Richard Hornbeck, Suresh Naidu
American Economic Review · 2014 · Volume 104 · Issue 3
Abstract
In the American South, post-bellum economic development may have been restricted in part by white landowners' access to low-wage black labor. This paper examines the impact of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 on black out-migration and subsequent agricultural development. Flooded counties experienced an immediate and persistent out-migration of black population. Over time, landowners in flooded counties modernized agricultural production and increased its capital intensity relative to landowners in nearby similar non-flooded counties. Landowners resisted black out-migration, however, benefiting from the status quo system of labor-intensive agricultural production.
Keywords
Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants, Non-labor Discrimination, Agricultural Labor Markets, Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S., Canada: 1913-, Economic History: Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries: U.S., Regional and Urban History: U.S., Climate, Natural Disasters, Global Warming, Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration, Regional Labor Markets, Population, Neighborhood Characteristics
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