Economists have an invested interest in our society. Some exemplary black economists have made enormous strides in addressing questions like how to conquer the wealth gap and what is the best economic formula for African Americans to thrive. Here is a list of some of our nation’s exceptional black economists:
Roland Fryer
Roland Fryer wanted to study economics because, he wanted “to figure out where blacks went wrong.” Fryer’s economic quest began with a question. On the way to finding the answer, he conquered several educational milestones. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in economics from The University of Texas at Arlington. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in Economics at The Pennsylvania State University. Fryer’s work earned him the status of the youngest African American to receive tenure at Harvard University. He is the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research continuing his economic quest for solutions.
Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell is an icon in the world of economics. In 2002, Sowell was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholarship melding history, economics, and political science. He followed that up the next year by earning the Bradley Prize for intellectual achievement. Sowell is both a syndicated columnist and an academic economist. In addition to his column, Sowell has written books, and articles, for a general audience such as “The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late”, and “Intellectuals and Society”. He primarily writes on economic subjects, endorsing a free market approach to capitalism. Sowell also writes on racial topics and is a critic of affirmative action and race-based quotas.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and commentator. She’s also an educator and the current President of the HBCU, Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. The MIT educated economist is a media mainstay. She founded Last Word Productions, Inc., a multimedia production company that serves as a vehicle for her work and products. They include the book “Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History” and “Unfinished Business: A Democrat and a Republican Take On the Top Ten Issues Women Face”.
Dr. Margaret Simms
Margaret C. Simms is a nationally recognized economist. Her specialized interest is the economic well-being of African Americans. She is an Institute senior fellow at the Urban Institute and is the director of the Institute’s Low-Income Working Families project, a research initiative exploring challenges faced by 9 million families and their 19 million children.
Simms spent 21 years with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in several leadership positions. In 2005 she was appointed vice president for governance and economic analysis and served as interim president in 2006.
Simms has also been editor of such books and monographs as: “Job Creation Prospects and Strategies” (with Wilhelmina Leigh), “Economic Perspectives on Affirmative Action”, and “Slipping Through the Cracks: The Status of Black Women” (with Julianne Malveaux). In the 2008, The National Economic Association presented Simms with the Samuel Z. Westerfield Award. Last year her work earned her an honorary doctor of laws degree from Carlton College.
Walter E. Williams
Walter E. Williams is referred to as “one of the country’s leading libertarian voices.” He’s earned that titled for his work as an outspoken commentator with libertarian views. He’s also an economist, commentator, and academic. He is the John M Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University, as well as a syndicated columnist and author. In 2009, Greg Ransom, a writer for the Ludwig von Mises Institute, ranked Williams as the third most important “Hayekian” Public Intellectual in America, behind only Thomas Sowell and John Stossel.
As an economist, Williams often defends free market economics and rails against socialist systems and government intervention. Some may know him for his rigorous, fact-based argument that the free market is a force that promotes racial equality.
Dr. Glenn C. Loury
Glenn C. Loury has been a groundbreaking academic and economist throughout his esteemed career. He is the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brown University. His academic background fitfully prepared him to hold that role. He earned a B.A. in Mathematics from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT.
Professor Loury has contributed to numerous areas in applied microeconomic theory: welfare economics, game theory, industrial organization, natural resource economics, and the economics of income distribution. He has also been a scholar in residence at Oxford University, Tel Aviv University, the University of Stockholm, the Delhi School of Economics, the Institute for the Human Sciences in Vienna, the Institute for Policy Studies in Sydney Australia, and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.
Dr. Ceclia Conrad
Cecilia A. Conrad is scholar and educator in addition to being a respected economist. She is currently the Vice President and Dean of the College of Pomona College. Before becoming a member of the Pomona faculty, Professor Conrad taught at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and at Barnard Liberal Arts College for Women in New York. As a researcher, she focuses on the effects of race and gender on economic status. The professor’s recent publications include: African Americans and High Tech Jobs: Trends and Disparities in 25 Cities, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, 2006; A Mixed Record: How the Public Workforce System Affects Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Labor Market, and Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, 2005.
Professor Conrad is editor of The Review of Black Political Economy and an associate editor of Feminist Economics.
Kerwin Charles
Kerwin Charles is a professor Edwin and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor in the Harris School at University of Chicago, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. The economist and educator focuses his research on subjects in the broad area of empirical labor economics. He has examined issues that include the effect of abortion legalization on children born during the time of legalization; and how the racial composition of neighborhoods affects the social connections people make. Also, he is studying how beliefs, opinions, and expectations determine outcomes in the labor market and beyond. The professor and scholar earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University.
