Sharing the Prize: The Economics of the Civil Rights Revolution in the American South by Gavin Wright (review)

The Civil Rights Movement has been criticized on the one hand as a governmental initiative that did not go far enough and on the other hand as a governmental initiative that failed because it went too far. Drawing on the growing, largely quantitative literature in economics and other social sciences examining the effects of Civil Rights era programs and policies, Wright builds a compelling case for the middle ground. Notwithstanding a “Revolution” that dramatically improved the economic conditions of African Americans, racial inequality persists. Sharing the Prize also highlights why economics needs economic history: The story is far richer and more complete than mainstream empirical micro-economists would tell.

The title points to two key ideas that frame Wright’s argument. First, the Civil Rights revolution benefited not only African Americans but also whites. Second, the gains of the Civil Rights revolution were concentrated in the South, just as the racial inequality and injustice had been before. The often-overlooked substantial net migration of African Americans into the South during recent decades may well be the best summary measure of how much progress has been made in the region. The evidence that Civil Rights–era policies did not harm whites, relative to a counterfactual situation with no Civil Rights movement at all, is far less strong than the evidence that African-American health, schooling, occupational opportunities, and voting outcomes improved, in some cases dramatically. But there is no evidence that whites were harmed; a convincing study of the effects of these policies on whites has simply proven difficult to produce. Whites might have done even better in the absence of the revolution, but Wright at least shows that an expanded labor market for blacks was not inconsistent with rapid economic growth in the South and improving circumstances for the majority of whites.

Wright argues that by the time whites, particularly those in the business community, showed their support for the movement, it was already well underway. Only belatedly did they come to realize that it would benefit them. They believed that integrating lunch counters and textile factories would reduce their profits. They were unaware that customers would adapt or that African-American workers were actually more productive than their typical white counterparts because segregation prevented them from learning about whites’ preferences and blacks’ abilities. These circumstances do not necessarily contradict the standard view in economics that businesses will make changes on their own if those changes are in their interest, though businesses may not always know what will increase profits.

Although there are moments when the book seems too optimistic in its interpretation of the revolution’s successes, those moments are followed by evidence and convincing argument. Continued racial inequality is among our nation’s most vexing problems, and Wright by no means argues that the work is either finished or irreversible. Sharing the Prize tells the important story of the progress made on this front, reminding us in the process that government can accomplish a great deal under the right circumstances.