Social bias in the recruitment of black elected officials in the United States

Conclusion Common to patterns found in other elites, the recruitment of the black elite is highly selective and biased towards certain kinds of individuals. Blacks who are female, not highly educated, who have low status occupation, or are not involved in conventional political activities are at a decisive disadvantage in the political arena. Serious obstacles, therefore, remain for the “average” Black—the overwhelming majority—who aspires to a political career.     

The changing nature of minority business: A comparative analysis of asian,nonminority, and black-owned businesses

This study compares the performance of small businesses formed between 1976 and 1982 by three groups: 1) Asian males, 2) black males, and 3) nonminority males. Self-employed Asians are outperforming nonminorities and blacks. A subset of black-owned firms—small scale ghetto-oriented operations—is shown to be laggard. Weak internal markets, commercial bank redlining, and loss of entrepreneurial talent are factors in undermining the inner city black business community. Successful black-owned firms are increasingly removed from the ghetto and from serving a minority clientele.     

The black scholar: An endangered species

This article explores black participation in scholarly careers. Relatively few blacks have been pursuing graduate training to complete research doctorates, especially in the disciplines of engineering, mathematics and physical sciences, where a mere 1 percent of the doctorates granted were awarded to blacks. The article also examines a major determinant of this low rate of black participation—losses from the education pipeline. The analysis covers losses after completion of high school. Although large, these losses do not differ substantially between black students and nonblack students, suggesting that the origins of the low participation of blacks are located at the precollege level. The analysis also finds no substantial differences in participation among high-achieving black and nonblack students. The article closes with a discussion of the role the scholarly community can play in recruiting more black talent to scholarly careers.     

Labor market racial discrimination against black women

Conclusion The data we have reviewed describe black women as having achieved parity with white women and indicate that this conclusion is not seriously affected after controlling for the direct and indirect effects of differences in time worked. However, the economic position of black women is not uniform throughout the economy. Black women have advanced primarily in public sector jobs and these advances have been made primarily by the youngest cohorts. Progress in the private sector has been much slower. Claims that a “new labor market” exists for black women ought to be carefully qualified, for their progress is impressive primarily when they are compared to white women—another disadvantaged group. Both groups of women are falling farther behind men in terms of relative earnings.16 Furthermore, it may be quite erroneous to interpret small differences in earnings between black and white women as evidence that black women do not suffer racial discrimination, as the following example illustrates.     

The impact of black mayors on the black community: The case of New Orleans’ ernest morial

Conclusion Dutch Morial is deeply respected by the New Orleans black community. According to a poll conducted in April 1983 by Rose-Stekler Associates, 80% of the black respondents gave Morial “excellent” or “good” job ratings, compared to only 11% who found him doing a “fair” or “poor” job. Despite very limited resourses, the Morial mayoralty has facilitated the entrance of the black middle class into the governmental process, providing access to city contracts and administrative positions. On the other hand, the black underclass has received meager rewards in the form of employment or a reduction in police brutality. Hopefully, economic development, in the long-run, will create jobs and provide additional city revenue to fund services for the poor. But for now, the primary impact of a black mayor on the black community of New Orleans has been symbolic kinds of benefits. Yet the potential positive benefits of a black mayor serving as a role model for black youth, as well as the value of civil rights rhetoric in fostering hopefulness and a more self-reliant black community, should not be underestimated. The characterization of the status of the civil rights movement in 1983 offered by C. T. Vivian, head of the Anti-Klan Network, well applies to New Orleans black community today: “Everything has changed and nothing has changed. The statistics are still terrible. But the atmosphere is totally different.”⁴⁹     

Implications of revenue sharing for black political and economic goals

Conclusions Thus far urban development has been subject to the “regulation” of forces generated by the market economy. Such planning as has existed has been overwhelmed by the dynamics of market forces, perverted priorities, political fragmentation and economic differentiation. The joint goals of removing the “crisis” elements of urban growth and of expanding black political potential have provided the framework in which we have analyzed revenue sharing. We have analyzed the specific Nixon and Mills proposals as well as the general idea of revenue sharing, and compared revenue sharing proposals to present Federal aid to state and local governments.     

The performance of black-owned commercial banks: A comparative analysis

The objective of this study was to examine performance differences among black banks of different asset sizes, as compared with average nonminority banks of similar asset size from 1985 to 1991. The study found that large black banks with assets over $50 million outperformed smaller black banks with assets less than $50 million in terms of return on assets (ROA) and return on owners’ equity. Also, when compared with average nonminority banks with assets less than $300 million, the large black banks exhibited a statistically significant higher ROA than average nonminority banks in 1985 through 1987. However, the differences were found to be statistically insignificant in terms of return on owners’ equity (ROE) during the study period. Regression results show that provision for loan loss, high liquidity, and investment in treasury and government securities continue to impact negatively on small black banks’ performance but these factors have no statistically significant impact on large black banks’ performance.     

Workers’ self-management and social property: A participatory approach to black economic development

Conclusion and Implications Self-management provides a context and a process for economic growth, political development, and institution building. Since its use as a developmental model does not presuppose unalterable fealty to any dogmatical theory, it can be easily modulated and revised to fit the particular needs and circumstances of the black community. For example, the concept of workers’ management and social property is a derivation of Marxian theory of social and economic organization. Moreover, Yugoslavia, the only sociopolitical system in which the theory of labor-managed market socialism has been reduced to action through system-wide implementation, is, unlike the U.S. economy or the black community’s subeconomy, a decentralized socialist state. 29 But the conceptual lineage or previous use of the idea does not preclude its revision for use by groups with different socio-historical experiences and contemporary conditions.     

Black economic well-being since the 1950s

Conclusion Industrial cities like Cleveland and Pittsburgh that once offered manufacturing jobs as a route to economic advancement no longer provide an economic environment conducive to long-run gains in black incomes. Faced with massive losses in blue-collar manufacturing jobs in the 1970s and 1980s — as well as growing local government fiscal difficulties — these cities are changing rapidly in character. Administration and management are more and more the dynamic, expanding sector, and the resultant demands for workers have been concentrated in the white-collar fields. Highly educated blacks benefit from these trends in job availability; the less educated lose ground economically. The swing between widespread progress (as in World War II) and widespread regression in relative economic status (as in the 1930s) was the traditional cyclical fate of the overall urban black population. Today the smaller white-collar group prospers while the larger blue-collar urban black work force is undermined, except in periods of labor shortage.     

Race,class, and politics in the black community of Boston

Conclusion We found that there are indeed some slight differences in the electoral behavior of black voters when we separate them into high and low socio-economic areal categories based on the level of median income. These slight differences include turnout rates for primary and general elections and voter registration rates. The higher the socioeconomic status of the black electorate in Boston, the higher the turnout and registration rates for that area tended to be; however, this relationship was not found to be consistent among all the areas selected for study. Despite these differences in electoral behavior or “practices,” our areal model does not suggest any significant political schisms based on the sicioeconomic indicators used. Black voters tended to vote the same way on a number of city and state ballot questions, support the same candidates at both the city and state level, and vote the liberal preference on both issues and candidates regardless of socioeconomic background. In addition, there is some evidence that the higher a black voter is on the socioeconomic scale, the greater his or her tendency will be to vote the liberal position on various issues and candidates. Our model also suggests that black voters will tend to support black candidates regardless of some socioeconomic factors. If this model can be used as an indication of class differences in the black community, then our data show that socioeconomic criteria are not as salient as race in determining the political behavior and preferences of black voters.     

U.S. Antidumping Enforcement and Macroeconomic Indicators Revisited: Do Petitioners Learn?

We contribute to the literature on the political economy of U.S. antidumping enforcement through an analysis of the pattern—and macroeconomic determinants—of country-specific antidumping petitions filed by U.S. firms against 15 countries between 1981 and 1998 (examining quarterly data). We reconcile some seemingly inconsistent results from the prior literature by suggesting that “learning” by petitioners about the administration—in practice—of the U.S. trade laws has led to changes in the roles of the macroeconomic determinants over time. JEL no. F13     

Struggling against apartheid: The use of economic sanctions on South Africa

Conclusion It is clear that the United States is in a dominant position in relation to South Africa’s economy, which has an economic climate working against its decision to be isolated from world opinion. The apartheid policies have produced an economy that is severely distorted by its having a restricted market for its industrial products, a critical shortage of skilled labor, a high level of structural unemployment, a high and increasing military budget, and by its support of an economically unviable Bantustan system. These distortions, combined with record balance of payments deficits and a net disinvestment of foreign funds, have resulted in currency outflows that were covered by the United States providing decisive support for a $1.1 billion loan from the IMF. Contrary to the impression that has been promoted by the South African government, S.A. mineral exports are not crucial to the United States. However, South Africa does depend upon the United States for its export market of these minerals, which are essential for providing the necessary funds for governmental expenditures and foreign exchange that are needed in order to support its high import content industries. The large percentage that exports have in S.A.’s gross national product increases this vulnerability. Thus, if we look at the evidence, it is clear that the United States has viable sanctions that it can implement against South Africa’s inhuman political and social policies. Although the United States has these leverages it refuses to utilize them, even though it would be in its interest to do so. It is vital that those persons who are genuinely concerned about human rights and the apartheid system apply whatever pressure is necessary to force the U.S. government to immediately utilize these leverages in the form of sanctions that would force the S.A. government to change its policies. The black community must take the responsibility for leading this effort.     

Effects of community,family, and education on earnings of black and white men

Summary The primary purpose of this paper was to determine the effect of background on the education and earnings of black and white men.It was largely motivated by a desire to quantify the extent to which past discrimination against Blacks, resulting in lower achievement, inhibits the progress of individuals today in a somewhat more benign environment.It has demonstrated that both community and family background factors are important in determining the levels of education and earnings of black and white men.The community effects for Blacks operate largely through their moving into more integrated neighborhoods, so that many positive community externalities are apparently not available to families in predominantly black middle-class neighborhoods.While the effects of father’s education, city origin, and community income are comparable between Blacks and whites, white men’s education is more affected by number of siblings, family income, and age of 1968 head of household than is black men’s education.The relative sizes of the coefficients of these latter variables are consistent with steeper age-earnings profiles for older white men than older black men and higher prices paid for investing in children by black parents.     

Discussion of 'Financial innovation and European housing and mortgage markets', by David Miles and Vladimir Pillonca

Although their paper stresses the potential merits of a particularfinancial innovation—a form of shared-ownership indexedcontract—Miles and Pillonca surprisingly neglect the roleof differential surges of financial innovation in explainingcross-country differences in house-price inflation. The risk-reducingpotential of their favoured instrument deserves further analysis,not least because of the sizeable political risk involved: theexperience of several other countries that have used indexedmortgage contracts shows their limited robustness to macroeconomicshocks.     

Negative nominal interest rates: history and current proposals

Given the renewed interest in negative interest rates on base money—or equivalently ‘taxing money’—as a means for overcoming the zero bound on short-term nominal interest rates, this article reviews the history of negative nominal interest rates starting from the ‘taxing money’ proposal of Silvio Gesell up to current proposals that received popular attention in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007/2008. It is demonstrated that ‘taxing money’ proposals have a long intellectual history and that instead of being the conjecture of a monetary crank, they are a serious policy proposal. In a second step, the article points out that besides the more popular debate on a Gesell tax as a means to remove the zero bound on nominal interest rates, there is a class of neoclassical search models that advocates a negative tax on money as efficiency enhancing. This strand of the literature has so far been largely ignored by the policy debate on negative interest rates.     

Trade Specialization in Latin America: The Impact of China and India

This paper examines the extent to which the growth of China and India in world markets is affecting the patterns of trade specialization in Latin American (LA) economies. We construct a measure of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) by 3-digit ISIC sector, country, and year. This RCA accounts for both imports and exports. The empirical analyses explore the correlation between the RCAs of LA and the two Asian economies. Econometric estimates suggest that the specialization pattern of LA—with the exception of Mexico—has been moving in opposite direction to the trade specialization pattern of China and India. Labor-intensive sectors (both unskilled and skilled) probably have been negatively affected by the growing presence of China and India in world markets, while natural resource and scientific knowledge intensive sectors have probably benefited from China and India’s growth since 1990. JEL no.  F10, F14     

Federal government policies and the “housing quotient” of black american families

The “housing quotient"—the condition of and access to housing—is defined for black American families and is examined in conjunction with the major relevant federal policies and programs. Policies considered include fair housing and the national urban policy. Programs examined include public housing and rental assistance. The lack of data constrains the completeness of the analysis, although certain programs seem to enroll blacks in disproportion to the rest of the population. The paper concludes that blacks currently are served by all federal programs, even though many programs historically have failed to live up to their potential to assist blacks.     

我国房地产税计税依据的选择

我国房地产税计税依据的选择必须立足国情并进行系统论证。从公平性、可评估性、管理易度、政治接受性、经济效率、收入生产率六个方面分析和比较以市场价值、年租价值、面积作为我国房地产税计税依据的适合性表明,年租价值在公平性、政治接受性、收入生产率方面适合性最高;面积在可评估性、管理易度方面适合性最高。通过综合考察认为,我国应选择以年租价值、而不是以市场价值作为房地产税的计税依据。     

Transatlantic banking crisis: analysis,rating, policy issues

The key dynamics of the transatlantic banking crisis are analyzed and the five key requirements for restoring stability and efficiency in the EU/OECD banking sector are highlighted. Most important is the introduction of a new tax regime designed to encourage bankers to take a more long-term time horizon in decision-making and to reduce excessive risk-taking. Banks and funds should be taxed not only on the basis of profits but also on the basis of the variability—read variance—of the rate of return on equity: the higher the variability over time, the higher the tax to be paid. The quality and comprehensiveness of banks’ balance sheets must be radically improved and hedge funds should be regulated. The tax formula proposed here is an important institutional innovation designed to encourage “sustainable banking”. Moreover, new approaches to macroeconomic modeling are emphasized—including integration of rating into a macro model. Finally, the hybrid macro model presented sheds new light on the effects of the banking crisis, as it allows for a better understanding of the interaction of fiscal policy, monetary policy and innovation variables.     

Immigrant Struggles in New Orleans Post-Katrina

Race relations in New Orleans have often been narrowed to Black and white, especially pre-Katrina. According to the 2000 census, the city was about 67% African American, 27% white, 2% Asian, and 3% “Hispanic.” In a city with a deep history of racial tensions between Black and white, other people of color—and especially recent immigrants—often went unmentioned in discussions of city demographics. The city’s world famous culture—whether in the traditions of Mardi Gras Indians and secondline parades, or in music like jazz and bounce—is also famously rooted in specifically African cultures. Even in media coverage of the city post-Katrina, the story of immigrant experiences has remained mostly invisible. When these stories have been told, they have often fit into the old stereotypes of “model minorities” (as in the case of the Vietnamese recovery) or of low-wage workers stealing jobs (as in the case of news reports on the city’s new Latino population). However, the stories of these other New Orleanians offer an important lens through which to view the overall struggle over the city’s recovery. And the work of grassroots activists from these communities, who strived to not only work for justice for their friends and neighbors, but also to build broad multi-racial alliances, provides an inspiring example for people in other cities who are waging similar fights.