Full Citation

Title: What's Policy Got to Do with It? Race, Gender & Economic Inequality in the United States

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2020

ISBN:

ISSN: 0011-5266

DOI: 10.1162/daed_a_01776

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: In the United States, economic inequality is both racialized and gendered, with Black and Latina women consistently at the bottom of the economic hierarchy. Relative to men (across racial groups) and White women, Black and Latina women often have less-desirable jobs, lower earnings, and higher poverty rates. In this essay, we draw attention to the role of the state in structuring such inequality. Specifically, we examine how public policy is related to racial inequities in economic positions among women. Applying an intersectional lens to the contemporary landscape of economic inequality, we probe the associations between public policies and economic outcomes. We find that policies have unequal consequences across subgroups of women, providing prima facie evidence that state-level decisions about how and where to invest resources have differential implications based on women's race and ethnicity. We encourage scholars to use aspects of our approach as springboards for better specifying and identifying the processes that account for heterogeneous policy effects across racial subgroups of women.

Url: https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/publication/downloads/Daedalus_Wi20_7_Michener Brower.pdf

Url: https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/daed_a_01776

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Michener, Jamila; Brower, Margaret Teresa

Periodical (Full): Daedalus

Issue: 1

Volume: 149

Pages: 100-118

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS CPS

Topics: Gender, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity

Countries: