Preface

This study estimates the extent and some of the components of race differences in income along the entire income distribution, and investigates also changes in these differences since 1939; it examines briefly theories proposed to account for these differences; and, finally, it deals with the relation between the objective of reducing race differences in income and other aims of policy. It is one of several studies for the Office of Economic Opportunity (under Contract B-99-4944) that look at obstacles to disadvantaged workers in U.S. job markets.

For their help in obtaining data, we are very grateful to Fred Hoffman, formerly of the Bureau of the Budget and now an independent consulting economist; Harold Goldstein of the Bureau of Labor Statistics; Frank Lewis, formerly of the Bureau of the Budget and at present with the Department of Labor; Herman P. Miller of the Bureau of the Census; Dorothy K. Newman, formerly of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and now with the Urban League. We also want to thank the many readers of an earlier draft of the manuscript who responded with helpful critical comments. Among these are D. Gale Johnson and Duncan MacRae of the University of Chicago; Geoffrey Moore, Commissioner of Labor Statistics and Robert L. Stein of the Bureau of Labor Statistics; Kenneth Arrow of Harvard University; and Stephen J. Carroll, Robert A. Levine, John McCall, Carl Morris, Joseph Newhouse, Anthony Pascal, T. Paul Schultz, and Frank Sloan of Rand.

Finally, we are indebted to previous work in the field of discrimination, especially that of Gary Becker, Anne Krueger, James Tobin and Finis Welch.

Albert Wohlstetter
University of Chicago

Sinclair Coleman
The RAND Corporation

Contents