The Incarceration Penalty and Black-White Economic Inequality: The Case of Baltimore
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 113,
May 2023
(pp. 456-61)
Abstract
This paper investigates income and wealth gaps by household incarceration history within and across racial groups using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. We study this in the context of 2017 Baltimore. We find that households exposed to incarceration have lower levels of income and wealth and that these differences are largest for White households. Additionally, we find that Black households without incarceration exposure fare no better in household income than White households with exposure but have higher levels of wealth (driven by lower debt levels). These results highlight the importance of studying the relationship between the criminal legal system and economic inequality.Citation
Russell, Lauren, Jorge N. Zumaeta, Aaron Colston, and William A. Darity Jr. 2023. "The Incarceration Penalty and Black-White Economic Inequality: The Case of Baltimore." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 113: 456-61. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20231132Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- D31 Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
- R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics