Segregation and Homeownership in the Early Twentieth Century

Trevon D. Logan; John M. Parman

doi:10.1257/aer.p20171081

Segregation and Homeownership in the Early Twentieth Century

Trevon D. Logan¹; John M. Parman²

¹ The Ohio State University, 1945 N. High Street, 410 Arps Hall, Columbus, OH 43210, and NBER (e-mail: ) · ² College of William and Mary, 254 Tyler Hall, Williamsburg, VA 23187, and NBER (e-mail: )

American Economic Review 2017

We use new county-level segregation estimates for the period of 1880 to 1940 to document a general rise in residential segregation in both urban and rural counties occurring alongside rising homeownership rates. However, we find a negative correlation between segregation and homeownership across space for both black and white households. Following Fetter (2013), we show that living in a more segregated county substantially reduced the impact of GI Bill benefits on white homeownership rates, suggesting that segregated locations potentially hindered both white and black homeownership.

DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171081
Volume: 107 (5)
Pages: 410-414
Language: en
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