Collegiate Times

Kerwin Charles, the Edwin and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School, is on campus today to present a lecture titled “Race and Wealth: Income, Expenditure, and Public Policy.”

Charles, who also serves as a research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research, has written on a variety of topics in the field of microeconomics. His lecture is at 2 p.m. at the Alumni Assembly Hall in the Inn at Virginia Tech. Charles spoke on some of his research and the challenges of pinpointing a link to disparities between race and income levels with the Collegiate Times

COLLEGIATE TIMES: What issues do you see when it comes to the issue of income on a racial level? I guess it isn’t as simple as black and white.

KERWIN CHARLES: There’s the fact about how large the disparities are. One part of my research is about types of measurement ... to know things about the world theretofore unknown, to know facts about the world.

In respect to this question, the kind of fact I’m after about labor and income hinges on ... that there are many facts we know about income differences ... but it is unclear to us what their source is. That’s an important part of my research, thinking carefully about what phenomena in the world explain the income differences we see.

CT: Is there a common theme among high-income earners? Regardless of race, is there some factor that you see among those who have higher incomes compared to others?

CHARLES: The biggest driver of high incomes is higher skills. By skills, I mean the kind of skill you are now acquiring, college training, and in particular college training of various kinds, some mathematics, economics training. Those things are highly rewarded in the labor market.

If there’s one principal determinant that people have of earnings in the U.S. economy now going forward is human capital in its various forms ... education training, etc. That is the common thing.

Many people receive higher incomes through entrepreneurial activity, but they represent a tiny share. If you asked me what’s the main driver of earning difference in America, it’s skills.

CT: Do you see a difficulty in discussing a difference in income based on race ... is it sometimes difficult to talk about because of the social aspect of this conversation?

CHARLES: Yes and no. I think on the one hand, what’s easy about it is ... you being in the state of Virginia, which has always had very large gaps by race going back to the colony’s founding. People have an understanding that differences by income are an important part of overall heterogeneity.

CT: Kind of leading into that, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder last year called America a “nation of cowards” in regards to discussing the issue of race.

CHARLES: It’s not my tendency to speak for other folks, because I never know what motivated their comments. It’s possible what he means by that, that Americans won’t forthrightly discuss racial differences among many dimensions, and the reason they don’t is because they’re nervous about; they have a fear of saying the slightly wrong thing.

People who withhold thoughtful commentary because of some childish anxiety that they might be misinterpreted, one could possibly call these people not brave people. Maybe this is what Mr. Holder meant, I’m not sure. But if it is, I can understand the reason.

A version of this article appeared in the Mar 18 issue of the Collegiate Times.