Author
William J. Collins
Other affiliations: Brookings Institution, National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard University
Bio: William J. Collins is an academic researcher from Vanderbilt University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Wage. The author has an hindex of 31, co-authored 92 publications receiving 2343 citations. Previous affiliations of William J. Collins include Brookings Institution & National Bureau of Economic Research.
Topics: Population, Wage, Legislation, Educational attainment, State (polity)
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined census data from 1950 to 1980 to measure the riots' impact on the value of central-city residential property, and especially on black-owned property.
Abstract: In the 1960s numerous cities in the United States experienced violent, race-related civil disturbances. Although social scientists have long studied the causes of the riots, the consequences have received much less attention. This paper examines census data from 1950 to 1980 to measure the riots' impact on the value of central-city residential property, and especially on black-owned property. Both ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares estimates indicate that the riots depressed the median value of black-owned property between 1960 and 1970, with little or no rebound in the 1970s. Analysis of household-level data suggests that the racial gap in the value of property widened in riot-afflicted cities during the 1970s.
137 citations
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TL;DR: The authors found evidence of positive selection, but the migrants' gains were large, and a substantial amount of black-white convergence in this period is attributable to migration, but they did not find evidence that positive selection was prevalent among migrants.
Abstract: The onset of World War I spurred the "Great Migration" of African Americans from the U.S. South, arguably the most important internal migration in U.S. history. We create a new panel dataset of more than 5,000 men matched from the 1910 to 1930 census manuscripts to address three interconnected questions: To what extent was there selection into migration? How large were the migrants' gains? Did migration narrow the racial gap in economic status? We find evidence of positive selection, but the migrants' gains were large. A substantial amount of black-white convergence in this period is attributable to migration.Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.
114 citations
TL;DR: The authors show that urban residential segregation has a strong adverse effect on labor market and social outcomes of young African-Americans relative to whites, and that this effect is a fairly recent historical phenomenon.
107 citations
TL;DR: This paper used micro-level census data to study the educational convergence of African-Americans in the post-Empirical era with extremely low levels of exposure to schooling and found that the overwhelming theme is one of educational convergence, despite overt discrimination for much of the period studied and subject to several qualifications.
Abstract: African-Americans entered the post-Civil War era with extremely low levels of exposure to schooling. Relying primarily on micro-level census data, we describe racial differences in literacy rates, school attendance, years of educational attainment, age-in-grade distributions, spending per pupil, and returns to literacy since emancipation, with emphasis on the pre-1960 period. The overwhelming theme is one of educational convergence, despite overt discrimination for much of the period studied, and subject to several qualifications. We interpret this theme in light of a simple model of educational attainment.
106 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the connection between residential segregation and the housing status of blacks relative to whites and found that residential segregation did not widen the racial gap in home ownership rates in 1940 or 1980, but did widen the gap in housing values after 1940.
89 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the economic effects of conflict, using the terrorist conflict in the Basque Country as a case study, and found that after the outbreak of terrorism in the late 1960's, per capita GDP in the basque country declined about 10 percentage points relative to a synthetic control region without terrorism.
Abstract: This article investigates the economic effects of conflict, using the terrorist conflict in the Basque Country as a case study. We find that, after the outbreak of terrorism in the late 1960's, per capita GDP in the Basque Country declined about 10 percentage points relative to a synthetic control region without terrorism. In addition, we use the 1998-1999 truce as a natural experiment. We find that stocks of firms with a significant part of their business in the Basque Country showed a positive relative performance when truce became credible, and a negative relative performance at the end of the cease-fire.
3,128 citations
TL;DR: Several ways of conceptualizing structural racism are reviewed, with a focus on social segregation, immigration policy, and intergenerational effects, to more seriously consider the multiple dimensions of structural racism as fundamental causes of health disparities.
Abstract: Racial minorities bear a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality. These inequities might be explained by racism, given the fact that racism has restricted the lives of racial minorities and immigrants throughout history. Recent studies have documented that individuals who report experiencing racism have greater rates of illnesses. While this body of research has been invaluable in advancing knowledge on health inequities, it still locates the experiences of racism at the individual level. Yet, the health of social groups is likely most strongly affected by structural, rather than individual, phenomena. The structural forms of racism and their relationship to health inequities remain under-studied. This article reviews several ways of conceptualizing structural racism, with a focus on social segregation, immigration policy, and intergenerational effects. Studies of disparities should more seriously consider the multiple dimensions of structural racism as fundamental causes of health disparities.
899 citations