Black Economists on Race and Policy: Contributions to Education, Poverty and Mobility, and Public Finance

Abstract

We explore the contributions of Black economists to research on major economic and social policy problems in the United States. We focus on applications in education, poverty and economic mobility, and public finance to extract common themes and patterns. The major themes that emerge include (i) Black economists’ examination of individual versus structural explanations for economic outcomes, (ii) the role played by race and discrimination, (iii) the endogenous determination of race, and (iv) the nature of objectivity and positionality in economic research. A unifying theme is a willingness of many Black economists to engage critically on economic policy issues, using frameworks both from within as well as outside of mainstream neoclassical economics.(JEL A11, D72, I23, I28, I32, J15, K42)

Toward a Latinx Stratification Economics

“…SE is a growing subfield that addresses this gap by recognizing that individual members of social groups have an interest in the relative position of their group in a social hierarchy (Blumer, 1958; Darity, 2005). SE explicitly draws on the disciplines of social psychology and sociology, and African American economists have played a prominent role in its development (Francis et al, 2022). SE has been recognized and incorporated in academic work outside of economics (e.g., Painter et al, 2016), and it has contributed significantly to several important policy debates (e.g., around baby bonds and reparations).…”

“… 10. See Francis et al (2022) for a related discussion of the distinctive features of the work of African American scholars in the economics discipline.…”

“… 35. Francis et al (2022), who provide an overview of black economists’ writing about race, conclude that black economists have not taken a uniform approach but that structuralist, as opposed to individualist, explanations have played an important role. See Banks (2005) for a history of Sadie T. M. Alexander's life and works.…”

Book Review: Thinking Like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in U.S. Public Policy

“…Meanwhile the Journal of Economic Literature's 2022 'Race and Economic Literature' symposium (Logan & Myers, 2022) features critical, heterodox scholars Grieve Chelwa, Darrick Hamilton, and James Stewart (2022) explicating stratification economics' core constructs and policy implications. Another symposium article discusses Black economists' work in applied policy (Francis et al, 2022). Akin to Berman (2015;), O'Connor (1998, 2001, Hartman (2008;, and Wacquant's (2022) works, Nina Banks and Warren Whatley (2022) review the history of race laws as distinct from the rule of law, and poignantly convey the intellectual thought and legacy of Sadie T. M. Alexander, the first Black PhD in economics.…”