Is the Economics Knowledge Production Function Constrained by Race in the USA?

Abstract

This paper considers if the dearth of black economists on the faculties of economics departments that grant economics doctorates reduce the production of knowledge about the economics and political economy of race. Approximately, 53 years after the Civil Rights Act, the typical Ph.D. granting economics with department in the USA has no black faculty. Parameter estimates of a simple knowledge production function for research output in an economics journal dedicated primarily to the economics and political economy of race reveals that knowledge about the economics and political economy of race is increasing in the number of black economists on the faculty of economics departments in the USA that grant doctorates in economics. Our findings suggest that the historical hiring practices of Ph.D. granting economics departments in the USA have constrained the production of economics knowledge that can inform public policies that would reduce racial inequality and improve the living standards of black Americans.