Black Economists Recall 50 Years of Struggle
“I don’t need to tell anyone in this room that far more needs to be done.”
Trevon Logan, who’s black, was called “boy” while seeking his first job as an economist. Economics professor Cecilia Conrad, also black, had three of her white male students complain about being taught by an “obvious affirmative-action hire.” Black people are less represented in economics than in STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. And their share has trended down since the mid-1990s.
That economics has a problem with race isn’t even in doubt, Janet Yellen, former chair of the Federal Reserve, said on Jan. 3 at a panel where Logan and Conrad spoke during the American Economic Association’s annual meeting in San Diego. The only question, Yellen said, is what to do about it. The panel’s blunt title: “How Can Economics Solve Its Race Problem?”