Annual income, hourly wages, and identity Among Mexican Americans and other Latinos

This article examines heterogeneity and income inequality among Hispanic Americans. Two processes that influence Hispanic heterogeneity include acculturation and labor market discrimination because of skin shade/phenotype. I focus on Hispanics because of their variation in phenotype, color, nativity, and language usage and also because of their recent large-scale integration into a society that historically has been characterized by bipolar racial categories that are putatively based on phenotype. This process provides a natural experiment for appraising the relative importance of acculturation, discrimination, and income inequality. I use data from two periods, 1979 and 1989, to determine the stability of identity formation among Mexican-Americans and other Hispanics. I find strong incentives favoring acculturation among Mexican- and Cuban-Americans. Americans of Mexican and Cuban descent but less so Puerto Ricans are able to increase annual income and hourly wages by acculturating into a non-Hispanic white racial identity. However, neither the abandonment of Spanish nor the abandonment of a specifically Hispanic racial self-identity is sufficient to overcome the penalties associated with having a dark complexion and non-European phenotype.Hispanic; Latino; Mexican-American; inequality; phenotype; identity; discrimation; wage inequality; wage disparity

Race, culture, and skill: interracial wage differentials among African Americans, Latinos, and whites

This article examines the interrelationships among race, culture, skill, and the distribution of wages. I utilize a three-equation system to explore this process: skill is a multidimensional productive attribute measured by years of education and work effort; educational attainment is a function of class background and individual effort; and individual wage rates are a function of skill and class background. By further assuming that effort is differentially distributed across individuals and social groups, I am able to estimate reduced form equations for educational and earnings attainment, where both equations are functions of the class backgrounds and race of individuals. The collective results of this article challenge the conventional wisdom among economists that African American and Latino job skills are of a lower quality than white job skills. To the extent that effort is an important element of worker skill, our results suggest that neither African American nor Latino labor is of lower quality than white labor. The results regarding differences between African Americans and whites in educational attainment, i.e., African Americans are able to translate a given level of resources into higher levels of educational attainment, reaffirm previous findings in the literature. The results on Latino versus white educational attainment are novel. Additionally, unlike previous research, this article connects racial differences in the skill acquisition process to the economics of discrimination.African American; Latino; Hispanic; discrimination; culture; social capital; culture; effort; education; skill

An empirical derivation of the industry wage equation

This paper utilizes the Box-Cox transformation of variables technique to empirically derive an industry wage equation. Section I presents the determinants of potential wage differentials between and within industries. Section II estimates a Box-Cox industry wage equation. Likelihood ratio tests on alternative specifications of this equation affirm that competitive structure is a significant determinant of the industry wage rate and that human capital specifications of the industry wage equation (for the manufacturing sector) are not statistically valid. Section III summarizes the results.Box-Cox; functional form; wage equation; labor market inequality; efficiency wage

The janus face of race: Rhonda M. Williams on orthodox economics schizophrenia

This paper provides an evaluation the intellectual contributions of Rhonda M. Williams. Specifically, we focus on Williams' theoretical and empirical contributions to the political economy of race.intellectual history; black political economy; political economy of race; discrimination

Identity matters: inter- and intra-racial disparity and labor market outcomes

Standard analysis of racial inequality incorporates racial classification as an exogenous binary variable. This approach obfuscates the importance of racial self-identity and clouds our ability to understand the relative importance of unobserved productivity-linked attributes versus market discrimination as determinants of racial inequality in labor market outcomes. Our examination of identity heterogeneity among African Americans suggests racial wage disparity is most consistent with weak colorism, while genotype disparity best describes racial employment differences. Further, among African Americans, the wage data are not consistent with the hypothesis that black-mixed race wage disparity can be explained by differences in unobserved productivity-linked productive attributes.racial discrimination, racial inequality, identity, African American, African Diaspora, wage discrimination, employment discrimination, Hispanic, acting white, multi-racial, skin shade

Assessing difference: examining Florida’s initial teacher preparation programs and exploring alternative specifications of value-added models

This study explores important statistical issues on the appropriate functional form and model specification of the value-added educational achievement equation. We also wish to estimate the causal effect of a teacher’s institution of academic preparation and pedagogical training. Standardized test scores, viz., the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests (FCAT), provide a measure of pupil academic achievement. Accordingly, this study uses a value-added regression model to establish whether there is a “college preparation effect” on the average pupil’s FCAT reading and mathematics scores. We find that value-added regression analysis fails to uncover robust and substantive college preparation effects. Regardless of race (African American, Hispanic, or white), male or female status, or FCAT mathematics versus FCAT reading, pupil academic achievement does not vary substantively according to a teacher’s college of preparation. Further, the statistical significance of teacher program effects also depends on the functional form and specification of the value-added model.teacher quality, value-added model, historically black colleges and universities, HBCU, teacher productivity, education and value-added

Examining FAMU’s supply of teachers: a value-added analysis of college of preparation on pupil academic achievement

Some teacher preparation institutions may provide higher quality teachers than others. Pupil academic achievement is one measure of the quality of teaching. Standardized test scores, e.g., the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests (FCAT), provide a measure of pupil academic achievement. This study seeks to ascertain whether Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) has a “college preparation effect” on the average pupil’s FCAT reading and mathematics scores. We find that the quality of FAMU’s teachers is statistically indistinguishable from the quality of teachers prepared by all other public colleges and universities in the state of Florida. This appears to be a robust conclusion. Our results are roughly the same regardless of whether we confine the sample to pupils matched with traditionally trained teachers (college of education graduates), all teachers, all traditionally trained African American teachers, or all African American teachers.teacher quality, value-added model, historically black colleges and universities, HBCU, teacher productivity, education and value-added

“Does teacher preparation matter? pupil academic achievement and teacher’s college preparation”

This study examines whether there is differential productivity associated with teachers trained within Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University’s college of education relative to teachers trained in other colleges and schools affiliated with the same university. We also examined whether there is differential productivity associated with alternative majors within and between the college of education and other academic units. We measure the productivity of a teacher by the educational achievement of pupils assigned to that teacher during a given year. We find that among pupils taught by recent graduates of FAMU, there is greater academic achievement among elementary school pupils taught by a teacher with a college major in elementary education than among elementary school pupils taught by a teacher with a college major in either secondary education or a non-education subject area. However, relative to secondary education and non-education majors, elementary education majors provide less value-added in middle school and high school.teacher quality, value-added model, historically black colleges and universities, HBCU, teacher productivity, education and value-added

Excavating for economics in africana studies

For 30 years, Africana Studies has developed as an interdisciplinary field. Although much attention has been paid within the field to the humanities and arts, much less has been paid to the social sciences, particularly economics. This analysis documents the presence of economists and economics course content among Africana Studies programs. The authors also discuss the presence of economists and economic content among leading general interest journals in Africana Studies and of economics content in several influential Africana Studies texts. Only 1.72% of the faculty members in leading Africana Studies departments are economists, and economics course content among Africana Studies programs is anemic. Also, there is little economics content in Africana journals, particularly peer-reviewed journals. Recommendations include incorporating accessible economics texts into course reading lists; encouraging African American students to take economics, calculus, and statistics; teaching statistics and economic theory in the context of course content; and adding economists to the editorial boards of Black Studies journals

NEA presidential address: identity, markets, and persistent racial inequality

This paper contrasts competing theories and evidence on the nature and significance of African American racial identity. In particular, we seek to examine whether race is best understood as a set of values and behaviors or whether race is best understood as a social norm