When the Levee Breaks: Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South. Hornbeck, R. & Naidu, S. American Economic Review, 104(3):963-990, 2014.
When the Levee Breaks: Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South [link]Website  doi  abstract   bibtex   
In the American South, postbellum economic development may have been restricted in part by white landowners' access to low-wage black labor. This paper examines the impact of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 on black out-migration and subsequent agricultural development. Flooded counties experienced an immediate and persistent out-migration of black population. Over time, landowners in flooded counties modernized agricultural production and increased its capital intensity relative to landowners in nearby similar non-flooded counties. Landowners resisted black out-migration, however, benefiting from the status quo system of labor-intensive agricultural production.
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 title = {When the Levee Breaks: Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South},
 type = {article},
 year = {2014},
 pages = {963-990},
 volume = {104},
 websites = {https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aer.104.3.963},
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 abstract = {In the American South, postbellum economic development may have been restricted in part by white landowners' access to low-wage black labor. This paper examines the impact of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 on black out-migration and subsequent agricultural development. Flooded counties experienced an immediate and persistent out-migration of black population. Over time, landowners in flooded counties modernized agricultural production and increased its capital intensity relative to landowners in nearby similar non-flooded counties. Landowners resisted black out-migration, however, benefiting from the status quo system of labor-intensive agricultural production.},
 bibtype = {article},
 author = {Hornbeck, Richard and Naidu, Suresh},
 doi = {10.1257/aer.104.3.963},
 journal = {American Economic Review},
 number = {3}
}

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