Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The treatment of racial and sexual discrimination in economics journals and economics textbooks: 1972 to 1987

  • Articles
  • Published:
The Review of Black Political Economy

Abstract

This article examines two decades of scholarly literature on discrimination and two decades of discussion of discrimination in economics textbooks. At first discrimination was taken seriously and policy responses adequate to the problem were advocated. Today this is a minority position. The article first traces the way thatJEL policies concerning indexing and abstracting have contributed to this change. Next textbooks are analyzed to show how this change is manifested in commonly used curricular materials. Finally, political preferences are shown to undergird crucial arguments like those concerning minimum wages. Conclusions linking ideology to research agendas are put forward.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Ray Marshall, “The Economics of Racial Discrimination: A Survey,”American Economic Review (1974), 849-71 p. 869.

  2. Henry Aaron, “Symposium on the Economic Status of African-Americans,”Journal of Economic Perspectives (Fall 1990), p. 5.

  3. Marshall, “The Economics of Racial Discrimination” (1974), p. 869.

  4. Aaron, “Symposium” (Fall 1990), p. 5.

  5. June O’Neill, “The Role of Human Capital in Earnings Differences Between Black and White Men.”Journal of Economic Perspectives (Fall 1990), pp. 25-46.

  6. For an example see Samuel Bowles, “The Production Process in a Competitive Economy,”American Economic Review (1985), pp. 16-36 in which such an outcome isnot seen as the result of “biases” of economists using neoclassical tools. Indeed, recent work outside the dominant paradigm “successfully” demonstrates that a reserve army of the unemployed will persist in competitive capitalism because firms must bribe workers by paying them more than their productive worth. This result, however, is at odds with tradition Marxian treatments in significant respects: Whereas Marx’s reserve army enabled capitalists to exploit workers, in “Rational Choice Marxism” workers are paid above their productive worth, thereby reproducing unemployment and income inequality. For a fine discussion of the problems attendant upon this approach see the exchange between E.K. Hunt and Herb Gintis inRadical Economics, Bruce Roberts and Susan Feiner, eds. (Boston: Kluwer Academic Press, 1991), pp. 91-116.

  7. See, for example, Robert Cherry, “Racial Thought and the Early Economics Profession,”The Review of Social Economy (Fall 1976), and Robert Cherry, “Biology, Sociology and Economics: An Historical Analysis,”Review of Social Economy (Fall 1980), pp. 149-62.

  8. Susan Feiner and Bruce Roberts, “Hidden by the Invisible Hand: Neo-Classical Economic Theory and the Textbook Treatment of Race and Gender,”Gender and Society (June 1990), pp. 159-181.

  9. For the period as a whole there were 1,933 articles indexed and 366 articles abstractedin JEL field 917.

  10. This statement is based on the observation that the “top 10” journals are the journals with the greatest number of abstracted articles, regardless of fields. See S.J. Liebowitz and John P. Palmer, “Assessing the Relative Impact of Economics Journals,Journal of Economic Literature, (March 1984), pp. 77-88.

  11. Marshall, “The Economics of Racial Discrimination” (1974).

  12. Aaron, “Symposium” (1990).

  13. Thomas Kuhn,The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1970), p. 81.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Susan Feiner and Barbara Morgan, “Women and Minorities in Introductory Economics Textbooks: 1974 to 1984,”Journal of Economic Education (Fall 1987), pp. 376-392. Feiner and Roberts, “Hidden by the Invisible Hand,”Gender and Society (June 1990).

  15. For a complete analysis of the books used in the sample see: Feiner and Morgan, “Women and Minorities in Introductory Economics Textbooks,”Journal of Economic Education, and Susan Feiner, “Women and Minorities in Introductory Economics Textbooks: A Look at the Last Fifteen Years,”Journal of Economic Education, forthcoming. Some readers may find the printing history of the various textbooks helpful in assessing this research, so we include this information here. These books represent a wide cross section of the available introductory textbooks. Some are “high level” others are considered “lower level,” but taken together they can reasonably claim to represent the major share of the college introductory economics textbook market. The books surveyed for this article include: Ryan Amacher,Principles of Economics, (1983), OH: Southwestern. Ryan Amacher and Holley Ulbrich,Principles of Economics, (1989), OH: Southwestern; Lloyd Atkinson,Economics — The Science of Choice, (1982), IL: Irwin; William Baumol and Alan Blinder,Economics: Principles and Policy, (1979, 1982 and 1988), CA: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich; Martin Bronfenbrenner, Werner Sichel, and Wayland Gardner,Economics, (1984 and 1990), MA: Houghton Mifflin; Edwin Dolan,Basic Economics, (1977 and 1983), IL: Dryden Press; Edwin Dolan and David Lindsay,Economics, (1988), IL: Dryden Press; Stanely Fischer, Rudiger Dornbusch and Richard Schmalensee,Economics, (1983 and 1988), NY: McGraw Hill; Daniel Fusfeld,Economics: Principles of Political Economy, (1982 and 1988), IL: Scott Foresman and Co; James Gwartney and Richard Stroup,Economics: Private and Public Choice, 1976, 1980, 1982 and 1987), CA: Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich; Robert Heilbroner and Lester Thurow,The Economic Problem, (1972, 1975, 1978, and 1981), NJ: Prentice Hall; Robert Heilbronner, John Galbraith and Thomas Beveridge,The Economic Problem, (1990), NJ: Prentice Hall; Richard Leftwich,A Basic Framework for Economics, (1980 and 1984), TX: Business Publications; Richard Lipsey, Peter Steiner and Douglas Purvis,Macro and Micro Economics, (1973, 1975, 1978, 1981 and 1988), NY: Harper and Row; Campbell McConnell,Economics: Principles, Problems and Policies, (1972, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1984), NY: McGraw Hill; Campbell McConnell and Stan Brue,Economics: Principles, Problems and Policies, (1990), NY: McGraw Hill; Edwin Mansfield,Economics: Principles, Problems and Decisions, (1974, 1977, 1980, 1983 and 1989), NY: W.W. Norton and Co.; Roger Miller,Economics Today, (1973, 1976, 1979, 1982 and 1991), NY: Harper and Collins; Roy Ruffin, and Paul Gregory,Principles of Economics, (1983 and 1990), IL: Scott Foresman and Co.; Paul 117 Samuelson,Economics, (1973, 1976 and 1980), NY: McGraw Hill; Paul Samuelson and William Nordhaus,Economics, (1985 and 1989), NY: McGraw Hill; Haney Scott and Nic Nigro,Principles of Economics, (1982), NY: Macmillan; Milton Spencer,Contemporary Economics, (1974, 1977, 1980, 1983 and 1990), NY: Worth Publishers; Dale True, and Lila Truett,Economics, (1982), MN: West; Roger Waud,Economics, (1983 and 1989), NY: Harper and Row; Paul Wonnacott and Ronald Wonnacott,Economics, (1979, 1982 and 1990), NY: McGraw Hill.

  16. McConnell,Economics, (1984), p. 26.

  17. Mansfield,Economics, (1983), p. 176.

  18. McConnell,Economics, (1984), p. 670.

  19. Lipsey and Steiner,Macro and Micro Economics, (1988), p. 376.

  20. Gwartney and Stroup,Economics, (1980), pp. 644-650, emphasis in the original.

  21. Dolan and Lindsay,Economics, (1988), p. 716.

  22. Ruffin and Gregory,Principles of Economics, (1990), pp. 767–769.

  23. Gwartney and Stroup,Economics, (1980), pp. 644–650.

  24. Dolan and Lindsay,Economics, (1988), p. 781

  25. McConnell,Economics, pp. 729–730.

  26. For a discussion of race and gender bias in economics see:The Guidelines for Recognizing Race and Gender Bias in Economics, (1991), The Committee for Race and Gender Balance in the Economics Curriculum. Copies available from the Committee Chair (Susan Feiner, Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668).

  27. Miller,Economics Today, (1991), p. 825.

  28. James Smith and Finis Welch,Closing the Gap: Forty Years of Economic Progress for Blacks, (1984), Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  29. June O’Neill, “The Role of Human Capital in Earnings Differences Between Black and White Men,”Journal of Economic Perspectives, 4 (Fall 1990), pp. 25–46.

    Google Scholar 

  30. See Samuel Myers Jr., “How Voluntary Is Black Unemployment and Black Labor Force Withdrawals?” InThe Question of Discrimination, edited by Steven Shulman and William Darity, Jr. (1989), Middleton CT: Wesleyan University Press. Robert Cherry,Discrimination: Its Economic Impact on Blacks, Women, and Jews, (1989), Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. Gerald Jaynes, “The Labor Market Status of Black Americans,”Journal of Economic Perspectives 4 (Fall 1990), pp. 9-24. Michael Reich, “Postwar Racial Income Differentials,” inThe Three Worlds of Labor Economics, edited by Garth Mangrum and Peter Phillips, (1989), White Plains, NY: ME Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Stanley Hoffman, “Black-White Life Cycle Earnings Differences and the Vintage Hypothesis: A Longitudinal Analysis,”American Economic Review (1979), pp. 855-67.

  32. Smith and Welch,Closing the Gap, (1984).

  33. Thus, if theJournal of Economic Perspectives had asked Marshall to present the empirical evidence current in 1990, his results would have been dramatically different than those presented by Aaron.

  34. Lloyd Reynolds,Labor Economics and Labor Relations, (1990), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Ronald Ehrenberg and Robert Smith,Modern Labor Economics, (1982 and 1990), Glenville, IL: Scott Foresman.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Barbara Bergmann,The Economic Emergence of Women, (1986), NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  37. It is interesting to realize that in their first edition Ehrenberg and Smith took the position that “Assuming all of the unexplained residual is due to discrimination, we can make an estimate of the maximum possible effects discrimination may have. See Ehrenberg and Smith (1982), p. 395 (emphasis added). Thus they assume that the unmeasured skill variables would reduce the residual and thus reduce the estimate of the impact of discrimination. In their latest edition (1990) they correctly note that the effect of unmeasured skill variables could go in either direction.

  38. J.R. Kearl, C.L. Pope, G.C. Whiting and L.T. Wimmer, “A Confusion of Economists,”American Economic Review, 89 (December 1979), pp. 986–94.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Gwartney and Stroup,Economics, (1987), p. 644.

  40. Baumol and Blinder,Economics, (1979), pp. 510-11.

  41. Robert Cherry, “Textbook Treatments of Minimum Wage Legislation,”Review of Black Political Economy, 13 (Spring 1985), pp. 25–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Robert Cherry, “Minimum Wages and Pure Discrimination: A Note,”Eastern Economics Journal, (1989), p. 15.

  43. Charles Brown, “Minimum Wage Laws: Are They Overrated?”Journal of Economic Perspectives, (Summer 1988), pp. 132-46.

Download references

Authors
  1. Robert Cherry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Susan Feiner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

About this article

Cite this article

Cherry, R., Feiner, S. The treatment of racial and sexual discrimination in economics journals and economics textbooks: 1972 to 1987. The Review of Black Political Economy 21, 99–118 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02701738

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02701738

Keywords

Search

Navigation