Abstract

Abstract: After several disasters in the US, the return migration rate of Blacks to post-disaster areas has been lower than that of other races. Is there is a political reason for this pattern? I investigate political trust as the mechanism through which race affects return migration. After accounting for economic, demographic, and sociological influences on return-migration, I find no race-based differences in return-migration patterns. Adding political trust to the analysis thus allows me to show that race does not have a direct effect on return migration in the US, but that race works through political trust to determine return-migration decisions. Since Blacks are more likely to have low levels of political trust, and those with lower political trust are less likely to return, Blacks are less likely to return. Word count (total): 8458