DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18049272
title: Property Rights Without Democracy: How Post-Bellum Southern Institutions Explain Contemporary Regulatory Capacity

description: Property Rights Without Democracy: Replication Data and Code

Abstract

We document a robust empirical regularity: U.S. states with more severe Jim Crow histories exhibit superior contemporary regulatory efficiency despite—or because of—their authoritarian past. Using Doing Business in North America rankings for 83 cities, we show Border South states (mean rank: 22.82) significantly outperform both non-South states (46.39) and Deep South states (56.25). This pattern reflects institutional persistence: Jim Crow required sophisticated legal mechanisms to maintain hierarchy through formally neutral procedures, creating state capacity for regulatory administration that persists today.

Contents

Code and Analysis



CROW.ipynb - Complete Jupyter notebook containing all empirical analysis, statistical tests, and visualizations


Data Files



DBNA_2022_Complete_Rankings.xlsx - Doing Business in North America rankings for 83 U.S. cities

IPRI- 2007 - 2025 data[25].xlsx - International Property Rights Index data (2007-2025)

hypothesis_test_results.xlsx - Statistical test results (ANOVA, Spearman correlation)


Visualizations



jim_crow_analysis.png - Main visualization showing non-linear relationship between Jim Crow intensity and regulatory efficiency

jim_crow_detailed.png - Detailed breakdown by region and Jim Crow classification


Documentation



DBNA 2022 Report v2.pdf - Methodology report for Doing Business in North America rankings

2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf - Project 2025 document (Heritage Foundation) used for qualitative analysis


Key Findings

Empirical Pattern



Border South (High Jim Crow): Mean rank 22.82 (BEST regulatory efficiency)

Upper South (Moderate Jim Crow): Mean rank 36.07

Non-South (No Jim Crow): Mean rank 46.39

Deep South (Severe Jim Crow): Mean rank 56.25 (WORST regulatory efficiency)


Statistical Significance



ANOVA: F=4.08, p=0.0095 (significant regional differences)

Spearman correlation: ρ=0.054, p=0.78 (NO linear relationship between Jim Crow intensity and outcomes)


Interpretation

The statistical pattern proves institutional FORM (sophisticated legal mechanisms vs. arbitrary authority) matters more than INTENSITY:



Border South states developed sophisticated legal frameworks maintaining hierarchy through formally neutral procedures

Deep South states relied on arbitrary personal authority and extreme violence, which disrupted institutional capacity

This institutional capacity for regulatory administration persists into contemporary business regulation rankings


Replication Instructions

Prerequisites



Python 3.8+

Jupyter Notebook

Required packages: pandas, numpy, matplotlib, seaborn, scipy


Running the Analysis



Download all files from this repository

Open CROW.ipynb in Jupyter Notebook

Run all cells in sequence

Analysis generates:



Descriptive statistics by region

ANOVA test results

Spearman correlation analysis

Visualizations (saved as PNG files)




Expected Output

The notebook produces:



Regional breakdown of DBNA rankings

Statistical test results validating regional differences

Confirmation that Jim Crow intensity does NOT linearly predict regulatory burden

Visualizations demonstrating the non-linear pattern


Data Classification

Jim Crow Intensity Categories

Cities classified into four categories based on state-level Jim Crow severity:

None (Non-South): States with no Jim Crow history



Includes all non-Southern states


Moderate (Upper South): States with moderate Jim Crow intensity



North Carolina, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, Texas


High (Border South): States with high Jim Crow intensity



Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia


Severe (Deep South): States with most severe Jim Crow intensity



Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina


Research Contributions





Institutional Persistence: Documents how Jim Crow's legal innovations persist as contemporary state capacity for regulatory administration




Political Economy Logic: Demonstrates regulatory preferences depend on institutional control (who operates machinery) rather than ideological principles about government size




Contemporary Relevance: Links findings to Project 2025's governing blueprint, showing how Jim Crow's institutional template has been nationalized as conservative policy framework




Theoretical Innovation: Establishes "property rights without democracy" as viable institutional equilibrium challenging assumptions about complementarity of property rights and democratic participation




Keywords

Institutional persistence; Regulatory federalism; Jim Crow; Property rights; State capacity; American conservatism; Political economy; Legal institutions

JEL Classification Codes

N42; P16; K40; H70; O17

License

This dataset is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

You are free to:



Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially


Under the following terms:



Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made


Use of AI Tools

During the preparation of this work, the author used a large language model to assist with various aspects of manuscript preparation, including generating initial drafts, refining prose for clarity and conciseness, summarizing key arguments, and structuring sections. The author reviewed, edited, and validated all AI-generated content as needed and takes full responsibility for the content of the published article.

Acknowledgments

This research was conducted independently. The author takes full responsibility for all analysis, interpretation, and conclusions. All data sources are properly attributed and cited in the accompanying paper.

Version History



v1.0 (December 24, 2025): Initial release with complete replication materials