Black and White Fertility, Differential Baby Booms: The Value of Civil Rights (original) (raw)

2012, RePEc: Research Papers in Economics

We present new data on the fertility of blacks, from 1820 to 2000, and whites, from 1800 to 2000, by state. We also present new data on schooling by race and cohort from 1840 to 2000. We also present data on mortality for whites, from 1800 to 2000, and blacks, from 1820 to 2000, by state. The data indicate remarkable convergence in all three indicators. The secular decline in mortality and fertility are consistent with our previous work, Murphy, Simon and Tamura (2008). However there is a substantial difference in the behavior of fertility during the Baby Boom between whites and blacks. In many states, typically southern, white fertility rose by trivial amounts during the Baby Boom. For blacks, the Baby Boom is dramatically larger, and universal throughout the US. In addition schooling fails to decline for