Causes, Consequences, and Policies to Address Systemic Barriers
Paper Session
Friday, Jan. 3, 2025 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (PST)
- Chair: Robynn Cox, University of California-Riverside
Afro-Entrepreneurship in Brazil: History, Realities, and Defies
Abstract
The paper focuses on a general overview of Afro-entrepreneurship in contemporary Brazil. Seven sections shape this paper beyond this introduction. The second section makes a brief comparative comment about the reality in the United States, where this issue has a substantial tradition and a lengthy reflection, theorization, and social mobilization. Section three dialogues with racial democracy as a source of Brazil’s national-building and how it interacts with the issue of Afro-Brazilian entrepreneurship. The fourth part revolves around the main topics surrounding Afro-Brazilian entrepreneurship, including the origins of social players’ struggles in running their businesses, self-organizing themselves, and obtaining academic acknowledgment for their endeavors. The fifth part briefly describes the history of Afro-Brazilian entrepreneurial organizations. Finally, we make a conclusive remark pointing out some topics for future studies on afro-entrepreneurship in Brazil, pointing out that, beyond compensatory policies, this subject dialogues with economic development problems in that nation.Intergroup Inequality and the Societal Demand for Mass Incarceration
Abstract
This paper adopts the stratification economics perspective to investigate the feasible explanatory power of intergroup inequality to explain the incidence of specific criminal justice variables such as crime, recidivism, and incarceration. From a theoretical view, stratification economics provides a framework from which to evaluate societal demand for incarceration. Within the context of stratification economics, intergroup inequality serves as an exogenous variable explaining the societal demand for incarceration and by implication for crime and recidivism as both contributes to sustaining the demand for incarceration. This paper’s empirical findings given time series data from 1989 to 2019 indicate that increases in intergroup wealth inequality increase the incidence of incarceration, recidivism, and crime. As expected, the impact of intergroup wealth inequality on the incidence of these three variables moderated if you will, by the impact of the racial intergroup inequality in income and unemployment on the incidence of incarceration, recidivism, and crime respectively. As the racial intergroup inequality in unemployment increases, there is a predicted decline in the incidence of incarceration when the racial intergroup inequality in income increases. The policy implications of this paper’s findings suggest that a transition from a mass incarceration society to a mass rehabilitation society will require a reduction in intergroup wealth inequality.The Impact of Minimum Wages on Financial Well-being Among Women: Does Race Matter?
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of minimum wages on the financial well-being of women, particularly Black women, in the United States. Using data from the National Financial Capabilities Study (NFCS) spanning 2009 to 2021, combined with state-level minimum wage data, the analysis employs various econometric techniques to establish causality. The main research questions are: (1) What is the impact of minimum wages on financial well-being? (2) Is this impact significant among women, specifically among Black women? (3) Are there heterogeneous influences related to age, marital status, and region? The empirical strategy involves estimating the effect of minimum wages on financial well-being using ordinary least squares (OLS) models, propensity score matching (PSM), and new difference-in-differences estimators to address endogeneity concerns and heterogeneous treatment timing. The study contributes to the literature by being the first to investigate the relationship between minimum wages and financial well-being among women at the national level, utilizing comprehensive survey data and sophisticated econometric techniques to identify causality. The findings are expected to highlight how labor market policy can be used to address race- and gender-based disparities in wealth and financial well-being, providing valuable insights for policymakers.The Relationship between Local Characteristics and Disability Applications and Awards
Abstract
Although disability determination is based on criteria that pertain to individuals, where people live is not random, and there is growing research linking place of residence with health outcomes. Yet, place characteristics have received only limited attention in prior studies of disability applications and awards. This project fills this gap using restricted data from the Health and Retirement Study, matched with data from the National Neighborhood Data Archive to assess the link of various place-specific factors with disability prevalence and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applications and awards. In addition to the full population, we examine the differential associations/effects across race and ethnicity. The study findings will show the extent to which an applicant’s health status is a function of the context of their place and the extent to which different groups are differentially exposed to risks of disablement and disability applications.JEL Classifications
- Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology
- J0 - General