Margaret C. Simms

Do Racial Disparities in Private Transfers Help Explain the Racial Wealth Gap? New Evidence From Longitudinal Data

How do private transfers differ by race and ethnicity, and do such differences explain the racial and ethnic disparity in wealth? Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study examines private transfers by race and ethnicity in the United States and explores a causal relationship between private transfers and wealth. Panel data and a family-level fixed-effect model are used to control for the endogeneity of private transfers. Private transfers in the form of financial support received and given from extended families and friends, as well as large gifts and inheritances, are examined. We find that African Americans and Hispanics (both immigrant and nonimmigrant) receive less in both types of private transfers than whites. Large gifts and inheritances, but not net financial support received, are related to wealth increases for African American and white families. Overall, we estimate that the African American shortfall in large gifts and inheritances accounts for 12 % of the white-black racial wealth gap.

Black women who head families: An economic struggle

Black families headed by women have much lower incomes and higher poverty rates than almost any other type of family. They are disproportionately dependent on welfare and are less likely to receive support from absent fathers. This is a very serious problem for the black community because of the increasing proportion of black families headed by women alone. This article outlines the dimensions of the economic problem and reviews the likely impact of recent policy changes on these families.

Private Transfers, Race, and Wealth

How do private transfers differ by race and ethnicity and do such differences explain the racial and ethnic disparity in wealth? Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study examines private transfers by race and ethnicity and explores a causal relationship between private transfers and wealth. We examine private transfers in the form of financial support received and given from extended families and friends, as well as large gifts and inheritances. Our findings highlight important differences in private transfers by race and ethnicity: African Americans and Hispanics (both immigrant and nonimmigrant) receive less in private transfers than non-Hispanic whites.

A report on the supply of Black Economists

One of the primary concerns of the National Economic Association (NEA) is the position of black economists within the economics profession. This concern has two components. One component is the concern that black students are not being given equal access to opportunities to become professional economists; the second element is that black professional economists are not given equal access to opportunities within the profession. These issues provided the principal impetus to the formation of the Caucus of Black Economists and continue to be the main concerns of its successor, the National Economic Association. At the 1978 annual meeting of the association, the membership instructed the board of directors to make efforts to ascertain the progress being made toward expanding the supply of black economists. While there was some feeling that the rate of increase in the supply of black economists had not been spectacular, the available numbers had never been compiled. The three questions that were of paramount concern were: 1. What is the total number of black economists currently in the profession?

Transformation in the Educational System: Catalysts for Black Change:

ConclusionIn conclusion it must be recognized that change is not necessarily change for the better. Some reforms will have no real impact on educational progress for blacks. If we want to improve the educational process and increase the quantity and quality of human capital available to the black community, we must support those reforms that will best serve that goal. The type and structure will vary from community to community. There is no single blueprint. This article merely attempts to present some of the details of proposed reforms to focus upon the factors that must be considered before a strategy can be determined.

Introduction: Special Issue on the Invisible Woman

This brief article introduces the special issue on the Invisible Woman.

A common destiny: Blacks and American society

marshall descriptive data on the changing position of blacks in American society since 1940; draw from the wealth of existing research to describe the cultural context, including an increasingly complex framework of laws, policies, and institutions within which the observed changes have occurred; and explore the consequences, anticipated and unanticipated, of public and private initiatives to ameliorate the position of blacks in America. [p. x]