More on the Impact of Economic Freedom on the Black–White Income Gap. (March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hoover, Gary A.; Compton, Ryan A.; Giedeman, Daniel C.
• Is Part Of: Public finance review. Volume 46:Number 2(2018:Mar.)
• Page Start: 205
• Page End: 223
• Publication Date: 2018-03
• Subjects: regulation -- protective/productive government -- racial earnings; Finance, Public -- Periodicals; 336.005
• DOI: 10.1177/1091142116668253
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1091-1421

Abstract

Using household-level data from 1980 to 2010, we examine whether economic freedom, as measured by the Economic Freedom of North America Index, has similar effects on white household income as it does on black household income. Our findings suggest that the positive effect of economic freedom found in most studies affects black households less than white households. Further, using the Oaxaca decomposition, our results show that economic freedom is an important factor explaining the gap between black and white household incomes.