Local Administration and Racial Inequality in Federal Program Access : Insights from New Deal Work Relief

We examine racial discrimination in the New Deal by examining access to work relief. The Federal Government prohibited racial discrimination in work relief programs. However, eligibility was determined by local and state administrators. We estimate Black-white gaps in work relief access separately by county. The results show that about 40 percent of Blacks resided in counties with equal or better access than similar whites. Access for Black men was much worse in the South. We find that Black access was better in areas where Black and white workers were complementary and where more public and private resources were available