In today’s lecture, I explained how racism, by shaping both the racists and their targets’ expectations, affects the outcome of markets such as real estate or labor. The negative expectations spawned by racism are difficult to extirpate when they give rise to self-fulfilling prophesies. I illustrated how this works through a simple supply and demand diagram. Please view the lecture notes posted on Canvas in their entirety and study the diagrams and explanations included. Make sure you understand this well.
You might have heard the expression “institutional racism” (or systemic racism) if you pay even scant attention to the events going on in this country. Institutional racism is when racist ideology becomes codified in the workings of various institutions. For example, a bank is an institution and may apply racist criteria when deciding to whom it will lend money. This may happen even if none of the loan officers reviewing the loan applications are themselves consciously racists.
Please read the following three short articles:
A troubling tale of a Black man trying to refinance his mortgage (Links to an external site.) (also watch at least the first 2 videos shown on the page. There is a short commercial in between, sorry.)
Race Strongly Influences Mortgage Lending in St. Louis, Study Finds(Links to an external site.) (You might have to pay $1 to view this New York Times article if you have already reached your limit of free articles. Considering that I did not require you to buy a textbook, this is not an extravagant request. I receive no kickback from the NYT for asking you to read this article.)
Racial discrimination in mortgage market persistent over last four decades (Links to an external site.)We have had for several decades Fairness in Lending regulations mandating that the skin color of the applicant should not be a factor in the evaluation of loan applications. Why is discrimination continuing then? Should the government let it be? Or should it try to stop it? And if so, what could be done that has a chance of achieving the desired goal?
I am expecting you, as usual, to spend at least 3 or 4 hours reading these and additional material gleaned through internet searches (document it) and discussing the issues with acquaintances to arrive at well-supported and well-thought-out conclusions. Superficial and illogical comments will be marked as worthless.