The next time you want to hold teachers completely accountable for student outcomes, remember this study’s major findings.
Abstract
We propose the rise of crack cocaine markets as an explanation for the end to the convergence in black-white educational outcomes beginning in the mid-1980s. After constructing a measure to date the arrival of crack markets in cities and states, we show large increases in murder and incarceration rates after these dates. Black high school graduation rates also decline, and we estimate that crack markets accounts for between 40 and 73 percent of the fall in black male high school graduation rates. We argue that the primary mechanism is reduced educational investments in response to decreased returns to schooling. [Emphasis added]
Reference
Evans, William N., Garthwaite, Craig, and Moore, Timothy J. (21012). The White/Black Educational Gap, Stalled Progress, and the Long Term Consequences of the Emergence of Crack Cocaine Markets. NBER Working Paper No. 18437.