This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Group Inequality

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Samuel Bowles () (Santa Fe Institute and University of Siena)
Glenn C. Loury () (Department of Economics, Brown University)
Rajiv Sethi () (Department of Economics, Barnard College, Columbia University and the Institute for Advanced Study)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

This paper explores conditions under which inequality across social groups can emerge from initially group-egalitarian distributions and persist across generations despite equality of eco- nomic opportunity. These conditions arise from interactions among three factors: the extent of segregation in social networks, the strength of interpersonal spillovers in human capital accumu- lation, and the responsiveness of relative wages to the skill composition in production. Social segregation is critical in generating these results: group inequality cannot emerge or persist un- der conditions of equal opportunity unless segregation su¢ ciently great. We also show that if an initially disadvantaged group is su¢ ciently small, integration above a threshold level can induce both groups to invest more in human capital, while the opposite holds if the disadvantaged group is large.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.sss.ias.edu/publications/papers/econpaper88.pdf
Our checks indicate that this address may not be valid because: 404 Not Found. If this is indeed the case, please notify (Nancy Cotterman)
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for Advanced Study, School of Social Science in its series Economics Working Papers with number 0088.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 32 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ads:wpaper:0088

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Einstein Drive,Princeton, NJ 08540
Phone: 609-734-8250
Fax: 609-951-4457
Web page: http://www.sss.ias.edu/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Nancy Cotterman).

Related research
Keywords: segregation; networks; group inequality; human capital;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks Economic Anthropology
J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Michael Kremer & Dan M. Levy, 2003. "Peer Effects and Alcohol Use Among College Students," NBER Working Papers 9876, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Wolff, Edward N, 1998. "Recent Trends in the Size Distribution of Household Wealth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 131-50, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2000. "Well-Being Over Time in Britain and the USA," NBER Working Papers 7487, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Lundberg, Shelly & Startz, Richard, 1998. "On the Persistence of Racial Inequality," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(2), pages 292-323, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Caroline Hoxby, 2000. "Peer Effects in the Classroom: Learning from Gender and Race Variation," NBER Working Papers 7867, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Bruce Sacerdote, 2001. "Peer Effects With Random Assignment: Results For Dartmouth Roommates," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 116(2), pages 681-704, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Derek Neal, 2005. "Why Has Black-White Skill Convergence Stopped?," NBER Working Papers 11090, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Gordon C. Winston & David J. Zimmerman, 2003. "Peer Effects in Higher Education," NBER Working Papers 9501, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Phelps, Edmund S, 1972. "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 659-61, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Rajiv Sethi & Rohini Somanathan, 2004. "Inequality and Segregation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1296-1321, December.
    Other versions:
  11. Galor, Oded & Zeira, Joseph, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Moro, Andrea & Norman, Peter, 2004. "A general equilibrium model of statistical discrimination," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 1-30, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis, 2002. "The Inheritance of Inequality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 3-30, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Roland G. Fryer & Steven D. Levitt, 2005. "The Black-White Test Score Gap Through Third Grade," NBER Working Papers 11049, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 991-1013, September. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  16. Kate Antonovics, 2002. "Persistent Racial Wage Inequality," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series 2002-05, Department of Economics, UC San Diego. [Downloadable!]
  17. Bruce A. Weinberg & Patricia B. Reagan & Jeffrey J. Yankow, 2004. "Do Neighborhoods Affect Hours Worked? Evidence from Longitudinal Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(4), pages 891-924, October. [Downloadable!]
  18. Sergio Currarini & Paolo Pin & Matthew O. Jackson, 2007. "An Economic Model of Friendship: Homophily, Minorities and Segregation," Working Papers 2007_20, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari", Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  19. Loury, Glenn C, 1981. "Intergenerational Transfers and the Distribution of Earnings," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 843-67, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Dilip Mookherjee & Debraj Ray, 2003. "Persistent Inequality," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 70(2), pages 369-393, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  21. Cutler, David M & Glaeser, Edward L, 1997. "Are Ghettos Good or Bad?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(3), pages 827-72, August.
    Other versions:
  22. Becker, Gary S & Tomes, Nigel, 1979. "An Equilibrium Theory of the Distribution of Income and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1153-89, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1993. "Occupational Choice and the Process of Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 274-98, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Benabou, Roland, 1993. "Workings of a City: Location, Education, and Production," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 108(3), pages 619-52, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  25. Akerlof, George A, 1976. "The Economics of Caste and of the Rat Race and Other Woeful Tales," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 90(4), pages 599-617, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  26. Durlauf, Steven N, 1996. " A Theory of Persistent Income Inequality," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 75-93, March.
    Other versions:
  27. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Loury, Glenn C, 1998. "Discrimination in the Post-Civil Rights Era: Beyond Market Interactions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 117-26, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Piacentini, Mario, 2008. "Migration Enclaves, Schooling Choices and Social Mobility," MPRA Paper 8376, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  3. Rajiv Sethi & Muhamet Yildiz, 2009. "Public Disagreement," Economics Working Papers 0089, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Social Science. [Downloadable!]
  4. Mason, Patrick L., 1992. "The divide-and-conquer and employer/employee models of discrimination: neoclassical competition as a familial defect," MPRA Paper 11333, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Hanson, Steven D. & Robison, Lindon J., 2001. "Impacts Of Social Capital On Investment Behavior Under Risk," Staff Papers 11533, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? You can use IDEAS to provide links to papers and articles in your course syllabus.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-19.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.