Books in Brief: Race and Economics

Race and Economics, by Thomas Sowell (David McKay, 285 pp., $9.95).

Writes black UCLA economist Sowell: “Capital is the most fluid of all resources. It goes wherever the rate of profit is highest, allowing for risk. If the ghetto, barrio, or other ethnic community were a high-profit location, nothing is more certain than that capital would be flowing into it instead of avoiding it.” The trick, then, in seeking to make the black community a high-income community is to make it “a high-profit location.” The rub, however, is time. Professor Sowell notes that unfortunately those methods which have proved successful historically—self-reliance, work skills, education, business experience—are all slow developing. That’s why the black community and its advocates in Congress and the state legislatures have frequently opted for instant income—job quotas, welfare payments, preferential treatment, etc. —all of which tend to undermine black self-reliance and pride of achievement. So Professor Sowell winds up his book with the central role played by attitudes. Attitudes explain the success of the antebellum “free persons of color” compared to the black migrants to the North in our time. He observes how superior attitudes help to explain the advancement of the Italian-American and the Japanese-American despite much initial and some lingering discrimination. Attitudes are simple to change in theory—but so hard in practice. An incisive and provocative book.

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William H. Peterson

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Race and Economics, by Thomas Sowell (David McKay, 285 pp., $9.95).

Writes black UCLA economist Sowell: “Capital is the most fluid of all resources. It goes wherever the rate of profit is highest, allowing for risk. If the ghetto, barrio, or other ethnic community were a high-profit location, nothing is more certain than that capital would be flowing into it instead of avoiding it.” The trick, then, in seeking to make the black community a high-income community is to make it “a high-profit location.” The rub, however, is time. Professor Sowell notes that unfortunately those methods which have proved successful historically—self-reliance, work skills, education, business experience—are all slow developing. That’s why the black community and its advocates in Congress and the state legislatures have frequently opted for instant income—job quotas, welfare payments, preferential treatment, etc. —all of which tend to undermine black self-reliance and pride of achievement. So Professor Sowell winds up his book with the central role played by attitudes. Attitudes explain the success of the antebellum “free persons of color” compared to the black migrants to the North in our time. He observes how superior attitudes help to explain the advancement of the Italian-American and the Japanese-American despite much initial and some lingering discrimination. Attitudes are simple to change in theory—but so hard in practice. An incisive and provocative book.