In the present political climate, slavery reparations remain a remote dream of activists. But it is still worthwhile to do the math, if not for the purpose of actual payments, at least for what the numbers reveal about race and equal opportunity in America.
References
1.
BrowneRobert. “The Economic Case for Reparations to Black America.”American Economic Review62 (1/2) (1972): 39–46. A calculation of the value of slave labor.
2.
ConleyDalton. Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth and Social Policy in America.Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. An overview of the centrality of wealth to understanding racial dynamics in other arenas.
3.
ConleyDalton. “Decomposing the Black-White Wealth Gap: The Role of Parental Resources, Inheritance and Investment Dynamics.”Sociological Inquiry71 (Winter 2001): 39–66. Evidence on the persistence of the wealth gap that challenges Being Black, Living in the Red.
4.
KotlikoffLaurence J.SummersLawrence H.. “The Role of Intergenerational Transfers in Aggregate Capital Accumulation.”Journal of Political Economy89 (August 1981): 706–32. High-end estimate of the role of progenitors in wealth accumulation.
5.
MenchikPaul L.JianakoplosNancy A.. “Black-White Wealth Inequality: Is Inheritance the Reason?”Economic Inquiry35 (April 1997): 428–42. A detailed analysis of the role of inheritance, narrowly construed.
6.
ModiglianiFranco. “The Role of Intergenerational Transfers and Life Cycle Saving in the Accumulation of Wealth.”Journal of Economic Perspectives2 (Spring 1988): 15–40. A more conservative accounting of the role of past wealth in explaining current wealth.
7.
OliverMelvinShapiroThomas. Black Wealth/White Wealth.London: Routledge, 1994. A good summary of the history of the asset gap.
8.
RobinsonRandall. The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks.New York: Dutton, 2000. A well-argued polemic making the case for reparations.
