Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/252219 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15095
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 removed barriers to voting for Black Americans in the South; existing work documents that this in turn led to shifts in the distribution of public funding towards areas with a higher share of Black residents and also reduced Black-White earnings disparities. We consider how expanded access to the ballot improved the well-being of children, and in doing so document that the immediate effects of expanded voting access last well into the next generation. Specifically, within a cohort-based differences-in-differences design, we test how early-life exposure to the VRA differentially impacted later-life outcomes of Black Americans. We find that increased exposure to the VRA before the age 18 leads to higher educational attainment and earnings in adulthood for Black Americans, with little or no impact on whites.
Subjects: 
Voting Rights Act
racial inequality
voting
childhood exposure
JEL: 
J15
N12
D72
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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