Study Guide – Economics

Study Guide – Economics

Desmond and Emirbayer: 4. Economics

1.       What benefits were created from the New Deal legislation?

2.       Which group had to be accommodated with compromises in order to draft New Deal legislation?

3.       What percent of blacks nationwide could not take advantage of the benefits offered by the Social Security Act of 1935?

4.       The U.S. spent more than 95 billion dollars on what program in the three decades following World War Two, making it the single most comprehensive set of social benefits ever issued by the federal government under a unified initiative?

5.       Were the benefits of the G.I. Bill were extended with equal generosity to whites and nonwhites?

6.       Was it only during the last part of World War II that nonwhites were admitted into the military in substantial numbers?

7.       From the perspective of segmented assimilation theory developed by Alejandro Portes and Min Zhou, what are three common pathways through which immigrants adapt to the American Society?

8.       Why has inner-city poverty in ghetto neighborhoods became more severe and concentrated?

9.       The spatial mismatch thesis states what?

10.   Between 1979 and 1984, did half of all black men working in durable goods manufacturing in major Midwest metropolises lose their jobs?

11.   The term brain drain to refer to what?

12.   A white middle-class family on average could survive at the poverty line for an entire year; whereas the average middle-class black family could survive for how long?

13.   Does the poorest white applicant has a better chance of getting his or her mortgage application approved than the highest paid black applicant?

14.   The unemployment rate for non-Hispanic whites in 2011 was 7.1%. What was the unemployment rate for non-Hispanic blacks?

15.   According to matched pair studies conducted by Devah Pager, are whites convicted of selling drugs more likely to land a job than blacks with no criminal history?

16.   When anti-poverty programs became intertwined with antiracism movements – and especially after affirmative action was legislated – did whites (including working-class and poor whites) begin turning away from the Democratic Party and their new policies?

17.   After the enactment of TANF, did single mothers working in the service sector find themselves worse off than those relying primarily on welfare?

18.   _____ of all Americans collect means-tested public assistance during some point in their lives.

19.   Why are nonwhite women more likely to return to welfare than white women?

20.   Which of the following statements concerning welfare dependency is true?

a.       Studies have shown that most welfare recipients work while on welfare and after welfare.

b.      Most people collect welfare only for short periods of time.

c.       90% of those who use welfare during some point in their life will do so again.

d.      One study found that 59 percent of whites believe that blacks would choose welfare over work.

21.   Between 1970 and 1990, did the number of nonwhite men and women and white women in the police force rise dramatically?

22.   Are nonwhite doctors were much more likely to practice in nonwhite communities than their white counterparts?

23.   Did one study of police officers hired through affirmative action find that they perform at the level of white male police officers?

24.   Do firms operating with affirmative action protocols perform much worse (in terms of profit margins, growth, and so forth) than firms that do not?

25.   Are a large proportion of nonwhites lacking qualifications – a good education, job training, network connections – virtually are unaffected by affirmative action?

26.   When whites were asked who was most likely to face discrimination at work, did survey respondents pick whites over blacks by two to one?

27.   Did one study find that 16% of blacks and 8% of Hispanics claim to have been refused pay increases or promotions because of their race; but only 3% of whites felt likewise?

28.   Between 1990 and 1994, were there 100 claims of reverse discrimination filed by white men; and over 150,000 claims filed by women and nonwhites in 1994 alone?

29.   Does affirmative action provide discipline and structure to employment practices that previously operated willy-nilly, relying heavily on personal connections?

30.   According to your textbook authors, do people get ahead in life solely by virtue of their own talents and work ethic?

31.   According to your textbook authors, are race and gender preferences are the only kinds of preferences in the world?

32.   According to your textbook authors, are employment practices without affirmative action more merit-based than those with it?

Transformative Assets, the Racial Wealth Gap, and the American Dream. Thomas M. Shapiro

33.   For many black Americans, middle class status

A. was earned between the mid-1960s and early 1980s?

B. is more precarious than it is for whites?

C. is measured by income, occupation, and education, but not by assets?

34.   According to Shapiro, will school improvements and the dismantling of employment discrimination close the racial wealth gap?

Lecture questions

35.   In 2010, the household income of Asians was _____ that of Blacks.

36.   In 2010, what percent of Hispanics were poor?