According to Becker's (1957) theory of taste-based employer discrimination, pure economic rents are necessary for discrimination to be observed in the labor market. Increased competition and reduced rents in the market for final goods should therefore lead to reduced labor market discrimination....

Racial wage inequality and discrimination have pervaded South African society for centuries. Apartheid legislation cemented these disparities by institutionalizing white job reservation and many other unfair practices. While racial wage gaps started to decline towards the end of apartheid, they...

It is almost universally assumed that race is an exogenously given trait that is not subject to change. But as race is most often self-reported by individuals who must weigh the costs and benefits of associating with minority groups, we ask whether racial self-identification responds to economic...

Free labor -- From Reconstruction to Jim Crow, 1877-1895 -- Blacks and labor in the progressive era, 1900-1920 -- From progressivism to the New Deal, 1920-1935 -- The New Deal and World War -- The civil rights era, 1950-1965 -- The affirmative action dilemma, 1965-present