1,720,978 research outputs found
COVID-19, Race, and Redlining
Full text linkDiscussion on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on African Americans has
been at center stage since the outbreak of the epidemic in the United States. To
present day, however, lack of race-disaggregated individual data has prevented a
rigorous assessment of the extent of this phenomenon and the reasons why blacks
may be particularly vulnerable to the disease. Using individual and georeferenced
death data collected daily by the Cook County Medical Examiner, we provide first
evidence that race does affect COVID-19 outcomes. The data confirm that in Cook
County blacks are overrepresented in terms of COVID-19 related deaths since—as
of June 16, 2020—they constitute 35 percent of the dead, so that they are dying at
a rate 1.3 times higher than their population share.
Furthermore, by combining the spatial distribution of mortality with the 1930s
redlining maps for the Chicago area, we obtain a block group level panel dataset
of weekly deaths over the period January 1, 2020-June 16, 2020, over which we
establish that, after the outbreak of the epidemic, historically lower-graded neighborhoods display a sharper increase in mortality, driven by blacks, while no pretreatment differences are detected. Thus, we uncover a persistence influence of the
racial segregation induced by the discriminatory lending practices of the 1930s, by
way of a diminished resilience of the black population to the shock represented by
the COVID-19 outbreak. A heterogeneity analysis reveals that the main channels of
transmission are socioeconomic status and household composition, whose influence
is magnified in combination with a higher black share
The long-term determinants of female HIV infection in Africa: The slave trade, polygyny, and sexual behavior
Full text linkWe study the long-term determinants of the high rates of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly among women, with a focus on family structure and sexual behavior as shaped by the demographic shock following the transatlantic slave trade. First we show that, in clusters where polygyny is more widespread, HIV infection rates are higher. By instrumenting polygyny with the demographic shock we can also establish that this link is causal. Next we turn to the channels through which polygyny is likely to affect HIV infection by focusing on sexual behavior, as captured by the intensity of sexual activity and the frequency of extramarital partnerships. We document relevant gender differences in behavior: in clusters affected by a larger demographic shock men (but not women) display a more intense sexual activity, while women (but not men) are more likely to engage in extramarital partnerships. We employ these findings to instrument sexual behavior when estimating its influence on HIV infection and we show that clusters exhibiting more frequent female extramarital partnerships are affected by significantly higher infection rates. We interpret our results as follows. The demographic shock induced by the slave trade represents a "primordial" risk factor which is still shaping contemporary family structure and sexual behavior. Polygyny is associated with unsatisfying marital relationships, particularly for women, with consequent female infidelity and an increased risk of infection, which is further multiplied for women co-habiting within polygynous households
Strangers and Foreigners: Trust and Attitudes toward Citizenship
Full text linkWe analyze the relationship between natives' attitudes towards citizenship acquisition for foreigners and trust. Our hypothesis is that, in sub-Saharan Africa, the slave trade represents the deep factor behind contemporary attitudes toward citi zenship, with more intense exposure to historical slave exports for an individual's ethnic group being associated with contemporary distrust for strangers, and in turn opposition to citizenship laws that favor the inclusion of foreigners. We nd that individuals who are more trusting do show more positive attitudes towards the acquisition of citizenship at birth for children of foreigners, that these attitudes are also negatively related to the intensity of the slave trade, and that the underlying link between trust and the slave trade is confirmed. Alternative factors - conflict,, kinship, and witchcraft beliefs- that, through trust, may affect attitudes toward citizenship, are not generating the same distinctive pattern of linkages emerging from the slave trade
Race v. suffrage: The determinants of development in Mississippi
Full text linkWe investigate the long term determinants of political and economic outcomes over a new data set composed of Mississippi counties. We analyze the effect of disfranchisement on voting registration at the end of the nineteenth century (1896-9), as well as the impact of voting registration on education outcomes at different points in time, namely in 1917 and in the 1950s. Finally, we turn to the determinants of a broad array of development indicators for the year 1960 and for the 1960-2000 period. Our main conclusion is that race, rather than political institutions and education policies, is the main force driving the above outcomes
Family Planning and Ethnic Heritage: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
Full text linkFamily planning is a critical issue in countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, where high fertility rates coexist with low contraceptive use alongside adverse perinatal outcomes. Using a combination of ethnographic, ecological, and folklore data, we investigate the role played in this context by postpartum sexual abstinence, an extensively documented practice that, in preindustrial societies, finds its biological justification as a means to safeguard child survival. First, we show that the duration of contemporary postpartum abstinence increases with the duration of ancestral postpartum sex taboos within a woman’s ethnic group. Second, postpartum abstinence is de facto pronatalist, as it increases the number of children ever born to a woman. At the same time, it increases the number of children of a woman who have died; lengthens birth intervals though not sufficiently to meet recommended guidelines; and increases neonatal death and child stunting.
Exploring the underlying mechanisms reveals that postpartum abstinence is associated with patriarchal cultural norms and that the motivation for its adoption is that it serves as a purification ritual. Overall, our findings question the biological rationale for postpartum abstinence as a means to protect child health, while aligning with anthropological evidence documenting its adoption as a ritual
Family Planning and Ethnic Heritage: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
Full text linkFamily planning is a critical issue in countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan
Africa, where high fertility rates coexist with low contraceptive use alongside adverse perinatal outcomes. Using a combination of ethnographic, ecological, and
folklore data, we investigate the role played in this context by postpartum sexual abstinence, an extensively documented practice that, in preindustrial societies,
finds its biological justification as a means to safeguard child survival. First, we
show that the duration of contemporary postpartum abstinence increases with the
duration of ancestral postpartum sex taboos within a woman’s ethnic group. Second, postpartum abstinence is de facto pronatalist, as it increases the number of
children ever born to a woman. At the same time, it increases the number of children of a woman who have died; lengthens birth intervals though not sufficiently
to meet recommended guidelines; and increases neonatal death and child stunting.
Exploring the underlying mechanisms reveals that postpartum abstinence is associated with patriarchal cultural norms and that the motivation for its adoption is
that it serves as a purification ritual. Overall, our findings question the biological rationale for postpartum abstinence as a means to protect child health, while
aligning with anthropological evidence documenting its adoption as a ritual
The evolution of the racial gap in education and the legacy of slavery
Full text linkWe study the evolution of racial educational inequality across US states from 1940 to 2000. We show that throughout this period, despite evidence of convergence, the racial gap in attainment between blacks and whites has been persistently determined by the initial gap. We obtain these results with 2SLS estimates where slavery is used as an instrument for the initial gap. The excludability of slavery is preliminarily established by instrumenting it with the share of disembarked slaves from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Using the same approach we also find that income growth is negatively affected by the initial racial gap in education and that slavery affects growth indirectly through this channel
Bitter Sugar: Slavery and the Black Family
Full text linkWe empirically assess the effect of historical slavery on the African American family
structure. Our hypothesis is that female single headship among blacks is more likely
to emerge in association not with slavery per se, but with slavery in sugar plantations, since the extreme demographic and social conditions prevailing in the latter
have persistently affected family formation patterns. By exploiting the exogenous
variation in sugar suitability, we establish the following. In 1850, sugar suitability is
indeed associated with extreme demographic outcomes within the slave population.
Over the period 1880-1940, higher sugar suitability determines a higher likelihood
of single female headship. The effect is driven by blacks and starts fading in 1920
in connection with the Great Migration. OLS estimates are complemented with
a matching estimator and a fuzzy RDD. Over a linked sample between 1880 and
1930, we identify an even stronger intergenerational legacy of sugar planting for
migrants. By 1990, the effect of sugar is replaced by that of slavery and the black
share, consistent with the spread of its influence through migration and intermarriage, and black incarceration emerges as a powerful mediator. By matching slaves’
ethnic origins with ethnographic data we rule out any influence of African cultural
traditions
De jure and de facto determinants of power: Evidence from Mississippi
Full text linkWe evaluate the empirical relevance of de facto vs. de jure determinants of political power in the U.S. South between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. We apply a variety of estimation techniques to a previously unexploited dataset on voter registration by race covering the counties of Mississippi in 1896, shortly after the introduction of the 1890 voting restrictions encoded in the state constitution. Our results indicate that de jure voting restrictions reduce black registration but that black disfranchisement starts well before 1890 and is more intense where a black majority represents a threat to the de facto power of white elites. Moreover, the effect of race becomes stronger after 1890 suggesting that the de jure barriers may have served the purpose of institutionalizing a de facto condition of disfranchisement
COVID-19, Race, and Redlining
Full text linkDiscussion on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on African Americans has been at center stage since the outbreak of the epidemic in the United States. To present day, however, lack of race-disaggregated individual data has prevented a
rigorous assessment of the extent of this phenomenon and the reasons why blacks may be particularly vulnerable to the disease. Using individual and georeferenced death data collected daily by the Cook County Medical Examiner, we provide first
evidence that race does affect COVID-19 outcomes. The data confirm that in Cook County blacks are overrepresented in terms of COVID-19 related deaths since—as of June 16, 2020—they constitute 35 percent of the dead, so that they are dying at
a rate 1.3 times higher than their population share. Furthermore, by combining the spatial distribution of mortality with the 1930s
redlining maps for the Chicago area, we obtain a block group level panel dataset of weekly deaths over the period January 1, 2020-June 16, 2020, over which we establish that, after the outbreak of the epidemic, historically lower-graded neighborhoods display a sharper increase in mortality, driven by blacks, while no pretreatment differences are detected. Thus, we uncover a persistence influence of the racial segregation induced by the discriminatory lending practices of the 1930s, by way of a diminished resilience of the black population to the shock represented by the COVID-19 outbreak
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