One Hundred Years of African American Economists: Difficulties and Prospects for Black Political Economy in the 21st Century

The challenge set before Black economists in 1967 by Harold Cruse in his seminal work The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: A Historical Analysis of the Failure of Black Leadership, to create new economic theories, methodologies, and institutional forms, from a Black community point of view, is still with us, and growing more urgent by the day. Mainstream economics has failed to shine much light on fundamental problems of inequality, poverty, and financial and productive stability, particularly as these problems intersect with racial disparity. After 100 years of African American economists, perhaps it is time to strike out on our own behalf and search for the solutions to our community's problems by creating and employing our own lamps.

The National Economic Association at 50: Where Have We Come From and Where Are We Going?

The National Economic Association was founded as the Caucus of Black Economists in 1969. The organization was formed to address the underrepresentation of Black economists in the American Economic Association and in the profession at large. This article reviews key issues raised and how they were addressed. It also makes suggestions for future directions the NEA might take.

African Americans in Economics at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Since the Kerner Commission Report of 1968

The campus of the University of Michigan experienced student unrest of the 1960s surrounding the Vietnam war and demands for racial inclusion. How the university, particularly the Department of Economics, responded in the aftermath of the Kerner Commission Report is the focus of this article. Michigan is not unique in producing few Black PhD economists over its history, having graduated 15 Black PhD economists of the more than 1,100 who have graduated from the department to date. Supreme Court decisions and a state ballot initiative halted the progress that was being made by the University to improve student and faculty diversity. Despite this, Michigan is one of only a few economics departments at majority institutions to have been home to several Black economists simultaneously. The fact that this is a notable statistic speaks to the lack of diversity of economics faculties nationwide.

The Kerner Commission Report: Did It Incentivize or Cause an Increase in the Production and Hiring of Black PhD Economists in Academia?

Approximately 50 years ago, the Kerner Commission Report cited pervasive racial discrimination in training, education, and employment as a contributor to Black–White inequality and stratification in the United States. This article considers if the Kerner Commission Report incentivized and possibly caused an increase in the production and hiring of Black PhD economists in academia. With longitudinal data on counts of economic doctorates earned by Black Americans employed in economics departments between 1957 and 2018, we estimate the parameters of count data specifications that accounts for the 1968 Kerner Commission Report dichotomously. Parameter estimates from mixed and fixed effect Poisson, negative binomial, and Poisson quantile specifications suggest that while the Kerner Commission Report generally had a positive effect on the number of Black American economics doctorates employed as faculty, it had no effect on the hiring of Black economists at the typical research institution and PhD-granting economics department. Our results suggest that similar to the Kerner Commission Report characterization of the United States being two separate racially stratified societies, approximately 50 years later research institutions and PhD-granting economics departments in the United States are similarly racially stratified.

The National Economic Association at 50: Getting Back to Our Roots

The National Economic Association (NEA) started out as the Caucus of Black Economists in December 1969. At the onset of the 50th Anniversary of the NEA’s founding, this presidential address looks at the organization’s past, present, and future to improve the prospects for current and future African American economists. Three recommendations are offered: support The Review of Black Political Economy, the NEA’s journal; help develop regional student chapters; and continue to foster allies that are aligned with the NEA’s mission. The Economics field needs to be better about becoming diverse and inclusive, and the NEA can lead the movement toward those goals.

We’ve to Build the Pipeline. What’s the Problem? What’s Next? The Remix

Despite a history of initiatives to strengthen the doctorate pipeline and mentoring programs for graduate students and junior faculty, the economics profession has failed to achieve a representative level of diversity across ethnicity, gender and race. This National Economic Association presidential address looks at the 20-year production, 1996-2015, of economists by ethnicity, gender, race, and residential status with an interest in the production of Black economists. The findings suggest there is cause for alarm as the number of undergraduate economics degrees conferred to Black women was stagnant, and there has been a decrease in the number of doctorates conferred to Blacks men. In addition, the number of undergraduate mathematics degrees conferred to Blacks has decreased, which may have dire consequences for the economics and mathematics doctorate pipeline. Recommendations that promote the professional lives of Black and minority economists are provided.