Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/278918 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16220
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) paved the road to Black empowerment. How did southern whites respond? Leveraging newly digitized data on county-level voter registration rates by race between 1956 and 1980, and exploiting pre-determined variation in exposure to the federal intervention, we document that the VRA increases both Black and white political participation. Consistent with the VRA triggering countermobilization, the surge in white registrations is concentrated where Black political empowerment is more tangible and salient due to the election of African Americans in county commissions. Additional analysis suggests that the VRA has long-lasting negative effects on whites' racial attitudes.
Subjects: 
civil rights
race
voting behavior
enfranchisement
JEL: 
D72
J15
H70
N92
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
6.93 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.