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Title: Long-Run Differences in Wealth Among Blacks and Whites: Empirical Results from Structural Regression Decomposition

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2001

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Abstract: Recent studies have used regression decomposition to analyze recent data and found that over seventy percent of the black-white wealth differences remained unexplained (See, e.g., Gittleman and Wolff 2000; Altonji, Doraszelski and Segal 2000; and Blau and Graham 1990). However, their results are limited to the variation in recent data. This study contributes improved methodology and historical empirical results to the literature on economic discrimination. In this paper, (i) I present structural regression decompositions, which are modifications to methods developed by Becker (1957) and Oaxaca (1973); (ii) I present a basic empirical test when analyzing structural regression decompositions; (iii) I report the estimated sources of black-white differences in wealth directly before and after emancipation; and (iv) I link these findings to recent studies. Empirical estimates confirm that the size and persistence of modern black-white wealth differences have historical roots. Key words: theory of economic discrimination, structural regression decomposition, wealth inequality, free blacks and slavery.

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Authors: Curtis, James

Conference Name: Social Science History Association

Publisher Location: Chicago, IL

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Methodology and Data Collection, Poverty and Welfare, Race and Ethnicity

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