{{Short description|1975 book by Thomas Sowell}} {{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name = Race and Economics | image = Race and economics bookcover.jpg | caption = Paperback cover (1975) | author = [[Thomas Sowell]] | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | series = | publisher = [[David McKay Company]] | pub_date = 1975 | media_type = Print | pages = 276 <small>(paperback)</small> | isbn = 0-679-30262-X | dewey = 330.9/73 | congress = 74019982 | oclc = 909822366 | preceded_by = [[Say's Law: A Historical Analysis]] | followed_by = [[Knowledge and Decisions]] }}
'''''Race and Economics''''' is a book by [[Thomas Sowell]], in which the author analyzes the relationship between [[Race in the United States|race]] and [[Wealth in the United States|wealth]] in the United States, specifically contrasting groups like [[African Americans]], [[West Indian Americans|Caribbean Americans]], [[Italian Americans]], and [[Japanese Americans]]. The book was initially published by [[David McKay Company]] in 1975 and reprinted by [[Longman]] in 1977 and 1982.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://search.worldcat.org/formats-editions/10963033?limit=20&offset=1&orderBy=publicationDateDesc|title=Race and Economics, showing editions|publisher=WorldCat|access-date=April 20, 2025}}</ref>
The book was praised by [[Elliott Abrams]] and [[James Tobin]], and U.S. Supreme Court Justice [[Clarence Thomas]] cited the book as a major influence.
==Overview== Sowell makes three basic arguments. First, he examines the economic impact of [[slavery]], in the United States, the [[West Indies]], and elsewhere. He distinguishes rural slavery from urban slavery, and circumstances in which blacks so predominated that many economic tasks fell to them of necessity, from circumstances in which blacks were punished for initiative and the development of skills.<ref name="Sowell 1975">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom|title=Race and Economics|last=Sowell|first=Thomas|place=New York|publisher=David McKay Company|year=1975|isbn=067950527X|via=Internet Archive|url-access=limited|pages=[https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom/page/6/mode/2up?q=rural+slavery 6-7], [https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom/page/66/mode/2up?q=jewish 67], [https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom/page/76/mode/2up?q=scotland 77], [https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom/page/80/mode/2up?q=italian 80], [https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom/page/100/mode/2up?q=indies 100], [https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom/page/102/mode/2up?q=puerto 102], [https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom/page/108/mode/2up?q=mexican 108], [https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom/page/150/mode/2up?q=russian 150], [https://archive.org/details/raceeconomics00thom/page/224/mode/2up?q=liberal 225]}}</ref>{{rp|6–7}}
Next, he compares the economic skills, circumstances, and successes of [[African American|American blacks]], [[West Indian Americans|West Indian blacks]], [[Puerto Rican American|Puerto Ricans]], [[Mexican American|Mexicans]], [[History of the Jews in the United States|Jews]], [[Irish Americans|Irish]], [[Italian Americans|Italians]], [[Scottish Americans|Scottish]], and other [[ethnic group]]s.<ref name="Sowell 1975"/>{{rp|67, 77, 80, 100, 102, 108}}<ref name=Turgeon />{{rp|1126}} He notes statistical quirks; ''e.g.'', comparisons of per capita income need to be checked against the median age of the groups concerned. The median age of [[Russians]] in the U.S. at the time of the book's publishing (1975) was 47, of the Irish 36, of blacks 23, of Puerto Ricans, 18.<ref name="Sowell 1975"/>{{rp|150}} Income tends to be higher in higher age cohorts; and unemployment tends to be higher in lower cohorts. If one matches age cohort to age cohort—those in their twenties, in their thirties, in their forties, etc., comparisons are considerably more just.
He also argues that the stark comparisons between white and black people are misleading, for instance, as reviewed by the ''American Journal of Sociology'': "...income from nonlabor sources is grossly underreported and is also concentrated among wealthy whites."<ref name=Turgeon />{{rp|1127}} [[Nancy Weiss Malkiel|Nancy J. Weiss]], history professor at [[Princeton University]], also analyzed Sowell's contrast between ethnic groups: "...those who castigate blacks and Puerto Ricans for failing to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps in the manner of Irish or Jewish immigrants of the last century are ignoring a whole complex of cultural and economic factors that need to be understood in historical perspective."<ref name=Weiss>{{cite journal|last=Weiss|first=Nancy J.|title=Review [Black Migration; Race and Economics]|journal=The American Historical Review|year=1976|volume=81|issue=3|pages=681–682|jstor=1852628}}</ref>{{rp|682}}
His third argument criticizes past governmental and economic policies, and opens up questions for the future. He has criticisms to make of [[Liberalism|liberals]], [[Extremism|radicals]], and [[conservatism|conservatives]], each of whom, he finds, protect their favorite illusions with respect to blacks.<ref name="Sowell 1975"/>{{rp|225}}<ref name=Tobin />{{rp|1392}} In conclusion, Sowell finds that ethnic groups that emphasize individualism, economic assimilation with mainstream society, and emphasis on self-reliance over political power are more successful.<ref name=Tobin />{{rp|1392}}
==Reception==
In a 1977 review for the ''[[Journal of Economic Literature]]'', [[Yale University]] professor [[James Tobin]] had a mixed review, praising the "great deal of wisdom" while criticizing "the long historical view and dispassionate analytical approach".<ref name=Tobin>{{cite journal|last=Tobin|first=James|url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=5306010&site=ehost-live&scope=site|title=Race and economics (Book Review)|journal=Journal of Economic Literature|volume=15|issue=4|pages=1391–1394|year=1977|access-date=April 19, 2025|url-access=subscription|jstor=2723002}}</ref>{{rp|1393}} Tobin was complimentary of the book's "disposing of the crude ideologies of exploitation and discrimination" while questioning Sowell's "confidence in the benign outcomes of unfettered markets and social adaptation".<ref name=Tobin />{{rp|1393–1394}}
For the ''[[American Journal of Sociology]]'', [[Hofstra University]] professor Lynn Turgeon called the book "stimulating" and Sowell "a brilliant purveyor of unfashionable economic ideas associated with the [[Chicago school of economics|Chicago School]]."<ref name=Turgeon>{{cite journal|last=Turgeon|first=Lynn|title=Reviewed Work: Race and Economics. Thomas Sowell|journal=American Journal of Sociology|year=1977|volume=82|issue=5|pages=1126–1127|jstor=2777827}}</ref>{{rp|1126}}
Reviewing the book for ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]'' in 1975, [[Elliott Abrams]] considered it "extremely useful" for "apply[ing] logic and economic analysis to group history" and "defy[ing] the conventional wisdom".<ref name=Abrams>{{cite magazine|last=Abrams|first=Elliott|title=Group Success|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1290135145|magazine=Commentary|date=October 1975|volume=60|issue=4|pages=93–94|access-date=June 8, 2025|id={{ProQuest|1290135145}} |url-access=subscription}}</ref>}{{rp|93}} Allan C. Brownfield called the book "eloquent and honest" in 1976 for ''[[The Freeman]]''.<ref name=Brownfield>{{cite magazine|last=Brownfield|first=Allan C.|url=https://cdn.mises.org/The%20Freeman%201976_2.pdf|title=Race and Economics|magazine=The Freeman|volume=26|issue=3|pages=186–189|access-date=June 8, 2025}}</ref>{{rp|186}}
''Race and Economics'' greatly influenced [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] Justice [[Clarence Thomas]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Foskett|first=Ken|title=Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of Clarence Thomas|year=2004|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|isbn=0060527226|pages=[https://archive.org/details/judgingthomaslif00fosk/page/142/mode/2up?q=%22Thomas+sowell%22 142]–[https://archive.org/details/judgingthomaslif00fosk/page/144/mode/2up?q=%22welfare+policies+insulted%22 144]|url=https://archive.org/details/judgingthomaslif00fosk|url-access=limited}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Thomas Sowell}}
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[[Category:1975 non-fiction books]] [[Category:Books by Thomas Sowell]] [[Category:Economics books]] [[Category:Non-fiction books about American slavery]] [[Category:Race and society]]