The Enduring Effects of Racial Discrimination on Income and Health
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 61,
no. 3, September 2023
(pp. 924-40)
Abstract
We investigate the effect of income on the long-standing racial mortality gap in the United States by using evidence from White and Black Civil War veterans who went on to receive postwar pensions. To circumvent endogeneity, we propose an exogenous source of variation in pension income: the judgment of the doctors who certified disability. We find large effects of pension income on longevity; large enough to close the Black–White mortality gap, in principle. However, because physicians discriminated against Blacks when evaluating the existence and severity of disabilities, Blacks received reduced pension benefits that failed to eliminate racial mortality gaps in practice. Our findings shed light on the role of beliefs about race, as opposed to racial animus, in contributing to racial differentials in well-being.Citation
Eli, Shari J., Trevon D. Logan, and Boriana Miloucheva. 2023. "The Enduring Effects of Racial Discrimination on Income and Health." Journal of Economic Literature, 61 (3): 924-40. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20221706Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H55 Social Security and Public Pensions
- I12 Health Behavior
- I14 Health and Inequality
- I24 Education and Inequality
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913