What Has Economics to Say about Racial Discrimination?

Arrow, Kenneth J.

doi:10.1257/jep.12.2.91

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Journal of Economic Perspectives: Vol. 12 No. 2 (Spring 1998)

JEP Volume. 12, Issue 2 | left

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What Has Economics to Say about Racial Discrimination?

Article Citation

Arrow, Kenneth J. 1998. "What Has Economics to Say about Racial Discrimination?." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(2): 91-100.

DOI: 10.1257/jep.12.2.91

Abstract

Racial discrimination pervades every aspect of a society in which it is found. It is found above all in attitudes of both races, but also in social relations, in intermarriage, in residential location, and, frequently, in legal barriers. It is also found in levels of economic accomplishment; that is, income, wages, prices paid, and credit extended. It is natural to suppose that economic analysis can cast light on the economic effects of racial discrimination. But the pervasiveness of the phenomenon must give us pause. Can a phenomenon manifest everywhere in the social world really be understood, even in only one aspect, by the tools of a single discipline? I want to explore here the scope and limits of ordinary economic analysis for understanding racial discrimination even in markets.

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Authors

Arrow, Kenneth J. (Stanford U)

JEL Classifications

J71: Labor Discrimination
J15: Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination

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