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THE JANUS-FACE OF RACE: REFLEC- TIONS ON ECONOMIC THEORY Patrick L.
Mason and Rhonda Williams Many economists are willing to accept
that race is a significant factor in US eco nomic and social
affairs. Yet the professional literature displays a peculiar schizo
phrenia when faced with the task of actually formulating what race
means and how race works in our political economy. On the one hand,
race matters when the dis cussion is focused on anti-social
behavior, social choices, and undesired market outcomes.
Inexplicably, African Americans are more likely to prefer welfare,
lower labor force participation, and unemployment. On the other
hand, race does not matter when the subject of discussion is
economically productive or socially accept able activities and
legal market choices (for example, wages and employment). This
Janus-faced construction of race is maintained by economists'
stubborn ad herence to the market power hypothesis. The market
power hypothesis asserts that racial discrimination and market
competition are inversely correlated. Discrimina tory behavior will
persist only in those sectors of society where the competitive
forces of the market are least operative. When applied to the labor
market, the mar ket power hypothesis suggests that pre- and
post-labor market decisions represent disjoint sets. On average,
members of a disadvantaged social group may accumulate a lower
amount of or a lower quality of productive attributes because of
discrimina tion in marital, residential, or school choice, or
because of substantial animosity in day-to-day interpersonal
relations with members of a privileged group.
THE JANUS-FACE OF RACE: REFLEC- TIONS ON ECONOMIC THEORY Patrick L.
Mason and Rhonda Williams Many economists are willing to accept
that race is a significant factor in US eco nomic and social
affairs. Yet the professional literature displays a peculiar schizo
phrenia when faced with the task of actually formulating what race
means and how race works in our political economy. On the one hand,
race matters when the dis cussion is focused on anti-social
behavior, social choices, and undesired market outcomes.
Inexplicably, African Americans are more likely to prefer welfare,
lower labor force participation, and unemployment. On the other
hand, race does not matter when the subject of discussion is
economically productive or socially accept able activities and
legal market choices (for example, wages and employment). This
Janus-faced construction of race is maintained by economists'
stubborn ad herence to the market power hypothesis. The market
power hypothesis asserts that racial discrimination and market
competition are inversely correlated. Discrimina tory behavior will
persist only in those sectors of society where the competitive
forces of the market are least operative. When applied to the labor
market, the mar ket power hypothesis suggests that pre- and
post-labor market decisions represent disjoint sets. On average,
members of a disadvantaged social group may accumulate a lower
amount of or a lower quality of productive attributes because of
discrimina tion in marital, residential, or school choice, or
because of substantial animosity in day-to-day interpersonal
relations with members of a privileged group."
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