This paper exploits the history of Reconstruction after the American Civil War to estimate the effect of politician race on public finance. While the effect of black politicians is positive and significant, black officials may be endogenous to electoral preferences for redistribution. I therefore use the number of free blacks in the antebellum era (1860) as an instrument for black political leaders during Reconstruction. Instrumental variables (IV) estimates show that an additional black official increased per capita county tax revenue by $0.20, more than an hour’s wage at the time. The effect was not persistent, however, disappearing entirely once black politicians were removed from office at Reconstruction’s end. Consistent with the stated policy objectives of black officials, I find positive effects of black politicians on land tenancy and black literacy. These results suggest that black political leaders had large effects on public finance and individual outcomes over and above electoral preferences.

中文翻译：

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黑人政治家重要吗？重建的证据

本文利用美国内战后的重建历史来估计政治家种族对公共财政的影响。虽然黑人政治家的影响是积极而显着的，但黑人官员可能内生于选举偏好的再分配。因此，我使用战前时代（1860 年）自由黑人的数量作为重建期间黑人政治领导人的工具。工具变量 (IV) 估计显示，增加一名黑人官员使人均县税收增加了 0.20 美元，超过了当时一个小时的工资。然而，这种影响并不持久，一旦黑人政客在重建结束时被免职，这种影响就完全消失了。符合黑人官员的既定政策目标，我发现黑人政治家对土地租赁和黑人识字率的积极影响。这些结果表明，除了选举偏好之外，黑人政治领导人对公共财政和个人结果的影响也很大。