Race and Economic Well-Being in the United States / Jean-Felix Brouillette, Charles I. Jones, Peter J. Klenow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brouillette, Jean-Felix.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Jones, Charles I.

Klenow, Peter J.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w29539.

NBER working paper series no. w29539

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2021.

Summary:

We construct a measure of consumption-equivalent welfare for Black and White Americans. Our statistic incorporates life expectancy, consumption, leisure, and inequality, with mortality rates playing a key role quantitatively. According to our estimates, welfare for Black Americans was 43% of that for White Americans in 1984 and rose to 60% by 2019. Going back further in time (albeit with more limited data), the gap was even larger, with Black welfare equal to just 28% of White welfare in 1940. On the one hand, there has been remarkable progress for Black Americans: the level of their consumption-equivalent welfare increased by a factor of 28 between 1940 and 2019, when aggregate consumption per person rose a more modest 5-fold. On the other hand, despite this remarkable progress, the welfare gap in 2019 remains disconcertingly large. Mortality from COVID-19 has temporarily reversed a decade of progress, lowering Black welfare by 17% while reducing White welfare by 10%.

Notes:

Print version record

December 2021.