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Economics Expert Available for Comment On California
Proposition 54
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Cecilia Conrad, the Stedman-Sumner Professor of Economics at
Pomona College, is available for comment on the possible
impacts of California Proposition 54, the racial privacy
initiative.
According to Professor Conrad, the collection of racial data
³allows researchers to be able to measure and track progress
toward eliminating racial and ethnic inequalities and to
monitor areas where progress is slow; to correct
misinformation and eliminate stereotypes; and to recognize
when race-blind¹ policies are not race neutral.²
Professor Conrad, who earned her Ph.D. at Stanford, focuses
her research on the impact of race and gender on economic
status in the United States. She is currently investigating
the relationship between firm recruitment practices and
employment of minority workers. Her recent publications
include: "Racial Trends in Labor Market Access and Wages:
Women" in America
Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences (National
Academy Press,
2001) and ³In Good Times and Bad: Discrimination and
Unemployment" in Prosperity for All? (Russell Sage
Foundation, 2000).
Professor Conrad serves as a member of the economics board
of Black Enterprise Magazine and is director of the American
Economics Association's pipeline project to increase the
number of minority doctorate holders in economics. She is a
past president of the National Economic Association and a
past board member of the Committee on the Status of Women in
the Economics Profession. In 2002, Professor Conrad was
named the California Professor of the Year by the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council
for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the world's
largest international association of educational
institutions.
Following are several examples from Prof. Conrad that
illustrate why collecting racial data is important.
"(i) When I talk to young African Americans , I find that
many believe that there has been little improvement in the
relative status of African Americans. This belief generates
hopelessness and anger. They are surprised when I show them
a graph that tracks median incomes by race over a 50-year
period. They can visibly see the impact of the Civil Rights
Movement, EEO policies etc on the median incomes and
earnings. This information offsets some of the pessimism and
encourages young African Americans to strive for success.
"(ii) When I speak to a group of adults, mostly white and
middle class, I show them a graph that illustrates the
convergence of black-white high school completion rates.
They realize that the explanation for the persistence of
racial inequality is more complex than simply "African
Americans don't value education." It also undermines their
perception that the average black who applies for job does
not have high school diploma.
"(iii) I was a consultant on a discrimination case where an
employer, located in a largely black community, had never
hired a black employee in over 50 years of operation. The
employer argued that it was because blacks did not have the
required credential -- a specific type of truck driving
license. I was able to obtain data on the numbers of blacks
in this community with this type of license and the employer
agreed to re-examine its recruitment and hiring procedures.
"(iv) A local high school is proud of its UC eligibility
rate, but, when the numbers are broken down by race, it
turns out that the high school does a great job preparing
white students but a poor job preparing black and Latino
students even those from similar economic circumstances as
the white students. As a result of seeing the numbers broken
down by race and ethnicity, the high school began to explore
possible explanations for the racial and ethnic gap; how it
distributes information to students and parents; and its
rules governing access to college prep classes etc.
"(v) I am currently conducting a study of the impact of
increases in racial diversity on local public expenditures.
My data on racial composition of suburban communities in
California is from the US Census (and that won't be
affected), but one of the variables of interest is civic
participation by blacks, Latinos and Asians, their
representation in public schools, their participation in
park and recreational programs. This data could be affected
by Prop 54."
Professor Conrad can be reached at: her office (909)
607-2970 or by
e-mail.
Pomona College, founded in 1887, is one of the nation¹s
premier liberal arts institutions, offering a comprehensive
program in the arts, humanities, social sciences and natural
sciences. To access a full list of faculty experts and their
areas of expertise visit
http://www.pomona.edu/communications/media/media.shtml. |
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