TY  - JOUR
AU  - Margo,Robert A.
TI  - Explaining Black-White Wage Convergence, 1940-1950:  The Role of the Great Compression
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Historical Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 44
PY  - 1993
Y2  - March 1993
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/h0044
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/h0044.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robert A. Margo
Department of Economics
Boston University
270 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: 617/353-6819
Fax: 617/343-8495
E-Mail: margora@bu.edu
AB  - The "Great Compression" of the 1940s produced a substantial narrowing in wage differentials in the United States. This paper examines the role of the Great Compression in fostering black-white wage convergence in the 1940s. Using data from the 1940 and 1950 census public use samples, I show that between half and two-thirds of black white wage convergence at the sample means can be attributed to shifts in wage structure associated with the Great Compression. I also demonstrate that, by (temporarily) boosting the incomes of black parents. the Great Compression led to greater increases in schooling levels among black teens between 1940 and 1950 than would have occurred otherwise.
ER  -