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Culture, Human Capital, and the Earnings of West Indian Blacks

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Abstract
Black immigrants from the British West Indies and their descendants have long held the interest of historians and sociologists because they provide a means of understanding the influence of differing cultural background on black economic progress. Numerous accounts from before World War II describe the enterprise and business acumen of West Indians, and it is widely believed that West Indians had (and have) higher socio-economic standing than other blacks in the United States [Ueda, 1980]. As Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan [1963, p. 35] summarized the prevailing view in their widely read account, "[T]he West Indians' most striking difference from the Southern Negroes was their greater application to business, education, buying homes, and in general advancing themselves." The relative success of West Indians has been cast in economic terms by Thomas Sowell, who attributes the apparently superior performance of West Indians to unobserved human capital to a "culture" that embodies "a whole constellation of values, attitudes, skills, and contacts that are related to success in the labor market" [Sowell, 1981a, p. 282]. The logic of Sowell's argument suggests that the culture of West Indian blacks allowed them to overcome or at least reduce the ill effects of discrimination on their incomes and well-being, and that discrimination alone cannot be blamed for the low incomes of American blacks. Although the idea that West Indians have succeeded because of their distinct cultural background is widespread, there has been relatively little empirical investigation of the issue. Sowell [1978, pp. 41-48, 398-415; 1981b, p. 8] compiled some striking tabulations from the 1970 Census of Population, and concluded that the median family income of West Indians was only 6 percent below the national average of all families in 1969, whereas the median family income of Afro-American blacks (Sowell's "American Negroes") was 38 percent below the national average. Barry Chiswick [1980, chapter 7] also used 1970 Census data, but focused on comparisons among closely-defined black groups. He found that native-born blacks of West Indian parentage had earnings that were 8 to 11 percent higher than the earnings of native-parentage blacks, and that native-born blacks of other foreign parentage had earnings that were 12 to 17 percent lower. Note that Sowell's finding is stronger than Chiswick's: Sowell suggests that West Indians perform nearly as well as whites, whereas Chiswick suggests only that West Indians do better than other black groups. This paper offers an empirical analysis of West Indians' performance in the U.S. labor market, drawing adjusted comparisons between the earnings of native-born black American men of West Indian ancestry and the earnings of other native-born men, both black and white. The data required for these comparisons come from the 1980 Census of Population, in which native-born respondents reported their ancestry. The results offer a mixed picture of the success of West Indians, suggesting that native-born blacks of West Indian ancestry do have somewhat higher earnings than other native-born blacks, other things equal. Nevertheless, there is still a large earnings gap between native-born blacks of West Indian ancestry and native-born whites that cannot be explained by observable characteristics.

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  • Stephen A. Woodbury, 1993. "Culture, Human Capital, and the Earnings of West Indian Blacks," Upjohn Working Papers 93-20, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:93-20
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    2. Stephen A. Woodbury, 2009. "Unemployment," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt & Seth D. Harris & Orley Lobel (ed.),Labor and Employment Law and Economics, volume 2, pages 480-516, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    3. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    4. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    5. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Becker, Gary S., 1971. "The Economics of Discrimination," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 2, number 9780226041162, December.
    7. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    8. Barry R. Chiswick, 1983. "The Earnings and Human Capital of American Jews," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 18(3), pages 313-336.
    9. Chiswick, Barry R, 1983. "An Analysis of the Earnings and Employment of Asian-American Men," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(2), pages 197-214, April.
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    1. B. Philip Jeon & Walter Simmons, 1998. "Reward for being an immigrant: Earnings gap between immigrant and native-born West Indians," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 26(3), pages 309-316, September.
    2. Patrick L. Mason, 2010. "Culture and Intraracial Wage Inequality among America's African Diaspora," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 309-315, May.
    3. Simmons, Walter O., 2003. "The black earnings gap: discrimination or culture," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 647-655.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    human; capital; earnings; wages; West Indian; blacks; Woodbury;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination

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