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  5. A Review Essay of The Economics of Structural Racism by Patrick Mason

Journal of Economic Literature

ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)

A Review Essay of The Economics of Structural Racism by Patrick Mason

  • Stephan Lefebvre
Journal of Economic Literature (Forthcoming)

Abstract

This review article provides a new, streamlined presentation of the stratification economics (SE) framework in three pillars and comments on Patrick L. Mason’s (2023) The Economics of Structural Racism: Stratification Economics and U.S. Labor Markets. SE, a field that seeks to understand racism and other social inequalities between ascriptive groups, is characterized by (1) rational, self interested models of group conflict, where (2) social groups, not individuals, are the fundamental unit of analysis, and where (3) intergenerational transmission of advantage or disadvantage cannot be overlooked. Mason (2023) demonstrates how, compared to the dominant alternatives in economics, SE better explains changes in racial inequality over time. In addition, Mason (2023) contributes to SE’s institutionalization by using particular thinkers, including W. E. B. Du Bois, thus helping to shape a scholarly canon for SE.

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