The Effects of Race Discrimination Laws
Public Policy Institute of California Working Paper No. 2003.13
Posted: 29 Jul 2003
Date Written: June 2003
Abstract
U.S. laws prohibiting race discrimination in labor markets began with state statutes passed in the 1940s and culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The effects of these laws on relative outcomes for blacks have been hotly debated. We present new evidence based on two sorts of variation: that induced by state anti-discrimination statutes passed prior to the federal legislation, and that brought on by the federal legislation, which extended anti-discrimination prohibitions to the remaining states. There is relatively little evidence that state laws passed prior to the federal legislation improved employment or earnings outcomes for blacks. In contrast, federal legislation boosted the relative earnings of blacks, but the effect was concentrated in Southern states. Although the evidence of positive effects on relative outcomes for blacks is weaker than in past research, the findings are qualitatively consistent with the view that the principal gains in relative earnings associated with anti-discrimination legislation came from federal efforts focused on the South (Donohue and Heckman, 1991).
Keywords: race discrimination, earnings, employment
JEL Classification: J7, J0, J2
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation