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Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 129 No. 1 2014

School Segregation, Educational Attainment, and Crime: Evidence from the End of Busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg *

Stephen B. Billings1; David J. Deming2; Jonah Rockoff3,4,5,6,7,8,9

1 University of North Carolina at Charlotte · 2 Harvard University Press · 3 University of Connecticut · 4 University of North Carolina at Greensboro · 5 Elon University · 6 Georgetown University · 7 Vanderbilt University · 8 University of Rochester · 9 University of Tennessee at Knoxville

open access

Abstract

We study the end of race-based busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools (CMS). In 2001, school boundaries in CMS were redrawn dramatically, and half of students received a new assignment. Using addresses measured prior to the policy change, we compare students in the same neighborhood that lived on opposite sides of a newly drawn boundary. We find that both white and minority students score lower on high school exams when they are assigned to schools with more minority students. We also find decreases in high school graduation and four-year college attendance for whites and large increases in crime for minority males. We conclude that the end of race-based busing widened racial inequality, despite efforts by CMS to mitigate the effect of segregation through compensatory resource allocation.

DOI
10.1093/qje/qjt026
Volume
129
Issue
1
Pages
435-476
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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