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« Colombia Trade Deal Is Derailed. Let's Keep It Off the Tracks | Main | Why do we think the answer is always more guns and more force... »


Race in America, Part 2

By Larry James
April 18, 2008


Racial discrimination is found in home mortgage lending in the form of high-cost, inappropriate, or predatory financing. Even controlling for credit history and household income, blacks are less likely to have access to prime lending and more likely to experience high rates of foreclosure in the sub prime market. (John E. Stapleford)

John Stapleford published a significant paper in the latest issue of Christian Scholar's Review entitled, "A Torturous Journey: The Condition of Black America" (XXXII:2, Winter 2008, pages 231-251). It is a tough read in terms of facing up with a continuing reality. But, in my view, a must read...

What follows are quotes lifted from Stapleford's extensive research. For the sake of space and due to my limited format here, I'll omit most of the extensive footnotes that document all that he reports -- I do list a few. For those interested in following all of his sources, check the journal.

Work

In labor markets, even after controlling for observable proxies for productivity, family structure and the attractiveness of welfare, black and white earnings differentials remain. Labor market audit studies confirm the existence of discrimination. Just having a black-sounding name can reduce callbacks for job interviews from similar resumes by as much as half. (see Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan, "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment in Labor Market Discrimination," in The American Economic Review 94:4, 2004, pages 991-1013).

Credit

Market audit studies also confirm discrimination against potential black renters and owners in housing markets with regard to availability, opportunities to inspect, agent encouragement, and geographic steering. Racial discrimination is found in home mortgage lending in the form of high-cost, inappropriate, or predatory financing. Even controlling for credit history and household income, blacks are less likely to have access to prime lending and more likely to experience high rates of foreclosure in the sub prime market. Capital market discrimination is also found in business lending where black firms are more likely to be denied credit and have significantly less access to debt financing than white-owned firms...

Criminal Justice

Bias in sentencing outcomes is found in America's criminal justice system. For example, after controlling for a variety of factors, black offenders receive longer sentences than white offenders and all offenders receive lighter sentences when the victim is black. (Edward L. Glaeser and Bruce Sacerdote, "The Determinants of Punishment: Deterrence, Incapacitation and Vengeance," Harvard Institute of Economic Research, 2002, paper 1884)

Facts of life 40 years after the death of Dr. King.

For more of Stapleford's research findings, refer back to my post last Tuesday, April 15. Or see Part 3 and Part 4.

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This page contains one single entry posted to Everyday Citizen on April 18, 2008 4:53 PM.

The post previous to this one is titled "Colombia Trade Deal Is Derailed. Let's Keep It Off the Tracks"

The post that follows this one is titled "Why do we think the answer is always more guns and more force..."

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