The Review of Black Political Economy

The objective of this study was to examine performance differences among black banks of different asset sizes, as compared with average nonminority banks of similar asset size from 1985 to 1991. The study found that large black banks with assets over $50 million outperformed smaller black banks with assets less than $50 million in terms of return on assets (ROA) and return on owners’ equity. Also, when compared with average nonminority banks with assets less than $300 million, the large black banks exhibited a statistically significant higher ROA than average nonminority banks in 1985 through 1987. However, the differences were found to be statistically insignificant in terms of return on owners’ equity (ROE) during the study period. Regression results show that provision for loan loss, high liquidity, and investment in treasury and government securities continue to impact negatively on small black banks’ performance but these factors have no statistically significant impact on large black banks’ performance.

African American insurance companies, since the 1960s, have experienced a significant decline in their profitability and stature. Because of recent racial desegregation, which in an economic sense consists of white-controlled businesses and black consumers increasing their interaction with each other, black insurers are waging an increasingly difficult struggle to survive. It appears the only way African American insurance companies can counteract this disturbing trend is to voluntarily merge into one “mega” company. Such a maneuver would empower consolidated black insurers to better serve African American consumers and to make definitive inroads in cultivating the burgeoning African consumer market.

This article presents a comparative analysis of labor market demand in the three major economies of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) in the period since 1970. The regression analysis indicates that the manufacturing sectors in Barbados and Jamaica were more responsive to changing domestic and international market conditions than the agricultural sectors, or than the Trinidad & Tobago manufacturing sector. Other important conclusions based on specifications at the aggregate level are that the real wage explained labor demand only in Jamaica, and that there was a secular increase in the demand for labor in both Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, even after wages and output were controlled for. Taken in conjunction with the other findings for Trinidad & Tobago, we conclude that there is a need to focus on other sectors as important employers of labor in the period under analysis.

This article provides evidence on the extent of de-agrarianization, the nature of rural employment, and rural-urban differences in employment in Zaire. The composition of employment by industry is examined using data from Zaire's 1984 Census. Increased schooling was associated with a greater propensity to be involved in nonagricultural employment. Since 1990, Zaire's chronic economic crisis has become acute and is intertwined with the political crisis resulting from President Mobutu's resistance to popular calls for democratization. In these circumstances, de-agrarianization is effectively put on hold. Nonagricultural employment opportunities have diminished considerably, and an increasing proportion of the country's population is being pushed back to subsistence agriculture.

In his book Caste, Class and Race, Oliver Cromwell Cox took positions on the link between capitalism and racism that appear contradictory; on the one hand he argues that racial exploitation emerged with the rise of capitalism, and on the other, that advancement of capitalism would reduce racial exploitation. This article analyzes this seeming contradiction from a Marxian perspective and argues that Cox failed to seriously consider the central organizing mechanism of capitalism—competition—to discuss the relation between capitalism and racism. To analyze race relations under any mode of production, the central organizing mechanism of that mode has to occupy a focal position. A failure to take account of that fact often results in political conclusions that, like Cox's, are divorced from theoretical analysis and thus are weak and impractical.

This article examines barriers to implementing government programs designed to redress racial economic exclusion. The authors review the current urban employment environment, and the need for more extensive job training and education programs targeting young African Americans. A case study is presented of the implementation of one such program in Ohio, the High Unemployment Population Program. It demonstrates that the most well designed program can fail if staff charged with implementation are not committed to its goals. In the current racially charged environment of the country, this barrier to implementation is likely to affect many new government programs throughout the 1990s. The article concludes with several recommendations for successful program implementation.

This research note uses a sample selection model to measure the earnings premium (or penalty) to public sector employment. A model correcting for both labor force participation and sectoral choice is estimated for both white and African American males. Results indicate that African American males are no better off in the public than in the private sector. Moreover, white males employed in the public sector earn significantly less than their private sector counterparts.