Contact InformationDepartment of Economics
Northwestern University
2211 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208 Phone:
757-272-3030
micah.villarreal@northwestern.edu
Northwestern University
2211 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208 Phone:
757-272-3030
micah.villarreal@northwestern.edu
Education
Ph.D., Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2025
MA, Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2020
BA, International Relations- Economics, Wellesley College, 2015
MA, Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2020
BA, International Relations- Economics, Wellesley College, 2015
Primary Fields of Specialization
Labor Economics, Economic History (United States)
Secondary Fields of Specialization
Economics of Inequality
Curriculum Vitae
Job Market Paper
“Black Gold: The Effect of Wealth on Descendants of the Enslaved”
Download Job Market Paper (PDF)
This paper examines how short-term wealth shocks affected the economic trajectories of descendants ofthe enslaved in the early twentieth-century United States. I exploit a natural experiment in which CreekFreedmen allottees—Black landholders in Oklahoma—received quasi-random windfalls when producingoil wells were drilled on their land allotments. Using linked microdata from the Dawes Rolls, allotmentmaps, oil drilling records, and U.S. censuses from 1910 to 1940, I show that oil discoveries were as-good-as-random with respect to pre-treatment characteristics. The wealth shocks had modest direct effects onasset accumulation, but large and persistent impacts on human capital. Treated youths were less likely towork, more likely to remain in school, and ultimately attained higher levels of education. Over subsequentdecades, they shifted toward white-collar occupations, urban residence, and—by 1940—higher rates ofhomeownership. These findings provide the first causal evidence on the long-run effects of wealth shocksfor descendants of the enslaved. They suggest that wealth enabled strategic investments in education and mobility, generating lasting socioeconomic gains despite ongoing racial barriers.
This paper examines how short-term wealth shocks affected the economic trajectories of descendants ofthe enslaved in the early twentieth-century United States. I exploit a natural experiment in which CreekFreedmen allottees—Black landholders in Oklahoma—received quasi-random windfalls when producingoil wells were drilled on their land allotments. Using linked microdata from the Dawes Rolls, allotmentmaps, oil drilling records, and U.S. censuses from 1910 to 1940, I show that oil discoveries were as-good-as-random with respect to pre-treatment characteristics. The wealth shocks had modest direct effects onasset accumulation, but large and persistent impacts on human capital. Treated youths were less likely towork, more likely to remain in school, and ultimately attained higher levels of education. Over subsequentdecades, they shifted toward white-collar occupations, urban residence, and—by 1940—higher rates ofhomeownership. These findings provide the first causal evidence on the long-run effects of wealth shocksfor descendants of the enslaved. They suggest that wealth enabled strategic investments in education and mobility, generating lasting socioeconomic gains despite ongoing racial barriers.
References