美国的种族与经济福祉
Race and Economic Well-Being in the United States
AER: Insights · 2025 · [{"name": "Jean-Félix Brouillette", "affiliation": ["HEC Montréal"]}, {"name": "Charles I. Jones", "affiliation": ["Stanford University"]}, {"name": "Peter J. Klenow", "affiliation": ["Stanford University"]}]
中文摘要
我们构建了一个衡量美国黑人与白人消费等价福利的指标，该指标纳入了预期寿命、消费、闲暇和不平等。基于这些因素，1984 年美国黑人的福利为白人的 40%，到 2022 年升至 59%。美国黑人取得了显著进展：在过去 38 年间，其消费等价福利水平增长至原来的 3.5 倍，而同期人均总消费仅翻了一番。尽管取得这一进展，2022 年的福利差距仍然大得令人不安，达 41%，远大于人均消费 16% 的差距。（JEL D12, I12, I31, J15, J31, K42）
Abstract
We construct a measure of consumption-equivalent welfare for Black and White Americans, which incorporates life expectancy, consumption, leisure, and inequality. Based on these factors, welfare for Black Americans was 40 percent of that for White Americans in 1984 and 59 percent by 2022. There has been remarkable progress for Black Americans: The level of their consumption-equivalent welfare increased by a factor of 3.5 over the last 38 years when aggregate consumption per person only doubled. Despite this progress, the welfare gap in 2022 remains disconcertingly large at 41 percent, much larger than the 16 percent gap in consumption per person. (JEL D12, I12, I31, J15, J31, K42)