The Effects of Racial Segregation on Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence from Historical Railroad Placement
利用19世纪铁路布局作为工具变量，研究发现城市种族隔离降低了黑人儿童和低收入白人儿童的向上流动性，并增加了犯罪率和青少年生育率。
This paper provides new evidence on the causal impacts of citywide racial segregation on intergenerational mobility. We use an instrumental variable approach that relies on plausibly exogenous variation in segregation due to the arrangement of railroad tracks in the nineteenth century. Our analysis finds that higher segregation reduces upward mobility for Black children from households across the income distribution and White children from low-income households. Moreover, segregation lowers academic achievement while increasing incarceration and teenage birth rates. An analysis of mechanisms shows that segregation reduces government spending, weakens support for antipoverty policies, and increases racially conservative attitudes among White residents.