The Impact of Economic Freedom on the Black/White Income Gap
Gary A. Hoover, Ryan A. Compton, Daniel C. Giedeman
American Economic Review · 2015 · Volume 105 · Issue 5
Abstract
Using state-level data from 1980-2010 we examine whether economic freedom, as measured by the Economic Freedom of North America Index, has had any impact in increasing or decreasing the ratio of median income for black households to the median income of white households. To our knowledge, there has been no research on racial income disparities and the role that economic freedom might have in alleviating or exacerbating the problem. We find evidence that economic freedom is associated with an increase in the racial income gap.
Keywords
Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior, Institutions and the Macroeconomy, Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants, Non-labor Discrimination, Wage Level and Structure, Wage Differentials
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