The Southern Wage Gap, Human Capital and the Quality of Education

Abstract

This suggests that school quality can play an important role in explaining the racial wage gap. Welch [28] and Smith [19] both provide anecdotal evidence that relates the narrowing of school quality to the falling racial gap in earnings. The rising rate of return for black workers on years of school, documented by Weiss and Williamson [27], Welch [28] and Smith and Welch [20], also is consistent with the improving quality of their education. Nevertheless, school quality has not been incorporated into systematic statistical analysis of the racial wage gap. This is the main focus of this paper. I examine 15 Southern states which had data on the segregated white and black school systems. I have attempted to link the demonstrated lower quality of education during segregation in the South to the persistent Southern wage gap. In addition I have tried to