Journal of Economic Literature
ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)
A Nation of Laws, and Race Laws
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 60,
no. 2, June 2022
(pp. 427–53)
Abstract
This article reviews the history of race laws in the United States as distinct from the rule of law, an idea found in the writing and speeches of Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, the first African American PhD in economics (1921). We review the race laws of slavery, lynching, Negro Jobs, and the making of the Black ghetto. We highlight the life and writings of Alexander and other early African American economists as an example of the cost of racial exclusion in the economics profession and how it has impeded the production of useful knowledge about the workings of the US economy.Citation
Banks, Nina, and Warren C. Whatley. 2022. "A Nation of Laws, and Race Laws." Journal of Economic Literature, 60 (2): 427–53. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20211689Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- K38 Human Rights Law; Gender Law
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N32 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N41 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N42 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: 1913-