Research
“Who Benefited from the World War II Service and the GI Bill?” (with Ariell Zimran). NBER Working Paper 32774.
The Economic History of American Inequality: New Evidence and Perspectives (edited with Martha Bailey and Leah Boustan). Forthcoming volume, University of Chicago Press.
“The Geography of Opportunity after the Civil War: Black and White Americans’ Mobility into Property Ownership” (with Nicholas Holtkamp). Working paper.
“Income Gains and the Geography of the US Home Ownership Boom, 1940-60” (with Gregory Niemesh). NBER Working Paper 31249 Forthcoming in The Economic History of American Inequality: New Evidence and Perspectives. University of Chicago Press.
“Black Americans Landholdings and Economic Mobility after Emancipation: Evidence from the Census of Agriculture and Linked Records” (with Nicholas C. Holtkamp and Marianne H. Wanamaker). Journal of Economic History Vol. 84, No. 4 (December 2024). (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 29858)
“Immigrants’ Changing Labor Market Assimilation in the United States during the Age of Mass Migration” (with Ariell Zimran). American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. Vol. 15, No, 3 (July 2023): 238-269. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 26414)
“African American Intergenerational Economic Mobility since 1880” (with Marianne H. Wanamaker). American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. Vol. 14, No. 3 (July 2022). (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 23395)
“The Great Migration of Black Americans from the US South: A Guide and Interpretation.” Explorations in Economic History Vol. 80 (April 2021). (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 27268)
“The Economic Assimilation of Irish Famine Migrants to the United States” (with Ariell Zimran). Explorations in Economic History Vol. 74 (October 2019). (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 25287)
“Unions and the Great Compression of Wage Inequality in the United States at Mid-Century: Evidence from Local Labor Markets” (with Gregory T. Niemesh). Economic History Review 72, 2 (May 2019): 691-715. (Revised version of Unions_March2018)
“Unions, Workers, and Wages at the Peak of the American Labor Movement” (with Brantly Callaway). Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 68 (April 2018): 95-118. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 23516)
Publishing Economic History. In An Economist’s Guide to Economic History, edited by M. Blum and C. Colvin. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 347-353.
“Racial Differences in American Women’s Labor Market Outcomes: A Long-Run View” (with Michael Q. Moody). In Oxford Handbook on Women and the Economy. Oxford University Press, edited by S Averett, L. Argys, and S. Hoffman New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 595-622. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 23397)
“The Great Migration in Black and White: New Evidence on the Selection and Sorting of Southern Migrants” (with Marianne H. Wanamaker). Journal of Economic History, Vol. 75, No. 4 (December 2015): 947-992. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 21384)
Enterprising America: Businesses, Banks, and Credit Markets in Historical Perspective (edited with Robert A. Margo). University of Chicago Press: 2015.
“Selection and Economic Gains in the Great Migration of African Americans: New Evidence from Linked Census Data” (with Marianne H. Wanamaker). American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Vol. 6, No. 1 (January 2014): 220-252. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 19124)
“The Origins and Persistence of Black-White Differences in Women’s Labor Force Participation from the Civil War to the Present” (with Leah Platt Boustan). In Human Capital and History: The American Record, edited by L. Boustan, C. Frydman, and R. Margo. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2014. (NBER Working Paper 19040)
“Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal in the United States,” (with Katharine L. Shester). American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Vol. 5. No. 1 (January 2013): 239-273. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 17458)
“Home Ownership and Race from the End of the Civil War to the Present” (with Robert A. Margo). American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, Vol. 101, No. 3 (May 2011): 355-359. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 16665)
“Did Improvements in Household Technology Cause the Baby Boom? Evidence from Electrification, Appliance Diffusion, and the Amish” (with Martha J. Bailey). American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Vol. 3, No. 2 (April 2011): 189-217. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 14641)
“The Economic Aftermath of the 1960s Riots in American Cities: Evidence from Property Values” (with Robert A. Margo). Journal of Economic History, Vol. 67, No. 4 (December 2007): 849 -883. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 10493)
“A Neighborhood-Level View of Riots, Property Values, and Population Loss: Cleveland 1950-1980” (with Fred H. Smith). Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 44, No. 3 (July 2007): 365-386.
“Education, Migration, and Regional Wage Convergence in the United States.” In Globalization and the New Comparative Economic History, edited by T. Hatton, K. O’Rourke, and A. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007, 165-191. (Revised version of Education_Convergence_May2006)
“The Wage Gains of African-American Women in the 1940s” (with Martha J. Bailey). Journal of Economic History, Vol. 66, No. 3 (September 2006): 737-777. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 10621.)
“Evaluating the Role of Brown v. Board of Education in School Equalization, Desegregation, and the Income of African Americans” (with Orley Ashenfelter and Albert Yoon). American Law and Economics Review, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Summer 2006): 213-248. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 11394)
“The Political Economy of State Fair-Housing Laws Prior to 1968.” Social Science History, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring 2006): 15-49. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 10610)
“Historical Perspectives on Racial Differences in Schooling in the United States” (with Robert A. Margo). In Handbook of the Economics of Education: Volume 1, edited by E. Hanushek and F. Welch. New York: North-Holland, 2006, 107-154. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 9770)
“The Labor Market Effects of the 1960s Riots” (with Robert A. Margo). In Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs 2004, edited by W. Gale and J. Pack. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2004, 1-34. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 10243)
“The Housing Market Impact of State-Level Anti-Discrimination Laws, 1960-1970.” Journal of Urban Economics, Vol. 55, No. 3 (May 2004): 534-564. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 9562)
“The Declining Contribution of Socioeconomic Disparities to the Racial Gap in Infant Mortality Rates, 1920-1970” (with Melissa A. Thomasson). Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 70, No. 4 (April 2004): 746-777. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 8836)
“Race, Home Ownership, and Family Structure in Twentieth-Century America” (with Robert A. Margo). In What Has Happened to the Quality of Life in the Advanced Industrialized Nations?, edited by E. Wolff. New York: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004, 187-213. (Revised version of Collins_Margo_FamilyStructure2001)
“Race and the Value of Owner-Occupied Housing, 1940-1990” (with Robert A. Margo). Regional Science and Urban Economics, Vol. 33, No. 3 (May 2003): 255-286. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 7749)
“The Labor Market Impact of State-Level Anti-Discrimination Laws, 1940-1960.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 56, No. 2 (January 2003): 244-272. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 8310)
“The Political Economy of State-Level Fair-Employment Laws, 1940-1964.” Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 40, No. 1 (January 2003): 24-51. doi:10.1016/S0014-4983(02)00010-4
“Race, Roosevelt, and Wartime Production: Fair Employment in World War II Labor Markets.” American Economic Review, Vol. 91, No. 1 (March 2001): 272-286.
“Capital-Goods Prices and Investment, 1870-1950” (with Jeffrey G. Williamson). Journal of Economic History, Vol. 61, No. 1 (March 2001): 59-94. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 7145)
“Race and Home Ownership: A Century-Long View” (with Robert A. Margo). Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 38, No. 1 (January 2001): 68-92. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 7749)
“Residential Segregation and Socioeconomic Outcomes: When Did Ghettos Go Bad?” (with Robert A. Margo). Economics Letters, Vol. 69, No. 2 (November 2000): 239-243.
“African-American Economic Mobility in the 1940s: A Portrait from the Palmer Survey.” Journal of Economic History, Vol. 60, No. 3 (September 2000): 756-781.
“Labor Mobility, Market Integration, and Wage Convergence in Late 19th Century India.” Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 36, No. 3 (July 1999): 246-277. doi:10.1006/exeh.1999.0718
“Labor Mobility in American and Indian Economic History.” Journal of Economic History, Vol. 59, No. 2 (June 1999): 469-472.
“Were Trade and Factor Mobility Substitutes in History?” (with Kevin O’Rourke and Jeffrey G. Williamson). In Migration: The Controversies and the Evidence, edited by R. Faini, J. de Melo, and K. Zimmerman. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 227-260. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 6059)
“When the Tide Turned: Immigration and the Delay of the Great Black Migration.” Journal of Economic History, Vol. 57, No. 3 (September 1997): 607-632.