Permanent Income and the Black-White Test Score Gap / Jesse Rothstein, Nathan Wozny.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rothstein, Jesse.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Wozny, Nathan N., 1980-

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w17610.

NBER working paper series no. w17610

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

Analysts often examine the black-white test score gap conditional on family income. Typically only a current income measure is available. We argue that the gap conditional on permanent income is of greater interest, and we describe a method for identifying this gap using an auxiliary data set to estimate the relationship between current and permanent income. Current income explains only about half as much of the black-white test score gap as does permanent income, and the remaining gap in math achievement among families with the same permanent income is only 0.2 to 0.3 standard deviations in two commonly used data sets. When we add permanent income to the controls used by Fryer and Levitt (2006), the unexplained gap in 3rd grade shrinks below 0.15 standard deviations, less than half of what is found with their controls.

Notes:

Print version record

November 2011.