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Title: The Role of Human Capital in Earnings Differences Between Black and White Men
Resulting in 1 citation.
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O'Neill, June E. |
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The Role of Human Capital in Earnings Differences Between Black and White Men Journal of Economic Perspectives 4,4 (Autumn 1990): 25-45. Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1942720 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: American Economic Association Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Census of Population; Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Discrimination, Racial/Ethnic; Earnings; Educational Attainment; Human Capital Theory; Racial Differences; Tests and Testing Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. This paper examines some of the factors behind the continuing earnings differentials for black and white men. After tracing some of the historical factors impacting blacks' acquisition of human capital, specifically schooling, from the late 1800s through the 1980s, the author details the earnings disparities that persisted, regardless of educational attainment or region, for black men during the period 1940-1980. Two factors that are thought to have impacted on the rise in relative earnings of black men during these forty years, improvements in the quality of schooling and a decline in labor market discrimination against blacks, are discussed. Utilizing data from the NLSY on respondents' AFQT scores, school records and earnings, the author examines whether the continuing differences in educational achievement as measured by the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) which have persisted for blacks regardless of the number of years of schooling completed explain the earnings disparity between blacks and whites. It was found that: (1) scores on the AFQT showed a positive correlation with wages, holding schooling constant; (2) the effect of AFQT scores was larger for blacks than for whites; and (3) the standard measures of schooling quality studied had no effect on the wages of the young men studied. |
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Bibliography Citation
O'Neill, June E. "The Role of Human Capital in Earnings Differences Between Black and White Men." Journal of Economic Perspectives 4,4 (Autumn 1990): 25-45.
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