ECON 257
Economic Perspectives on Racial Inequality Spring 2024
Division II Difference, Power, and Equity
This is not the current course catalog

This course will examine the causes and consequences of racial disparities in economic outcomes. Specific topics will include the determinants and consequences of racial differences in earnings and human capital; formal models of taste-based and statistical discrimination; racial segregation in neighborhoods and schools; the economic history of slavery, Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement; and the structure and efficacy of government anti-discrimination policies. Much of the course will focus on racial discrimination faced by African Americans specifically, but there will also be coverage of other racial and ethnic minority groups. The course will additionally focus almost exclusively on the US, although many of the theories and techniques we will develop are applicable to other contexts as well. The course will utilize basic microeconomic tools, such as straightforward extensions of the supply and demand model, and ECON 110 is a prerequisite. We will also make extensive use of descriptive statistics, and an introductory statistics course such as STAT 161 will be useful, but is not required.