[Clanan]

You're focusing on a single variable. The above poster is recommending a multivariate approach. If a similar minority group can start from a worse position (not even knowing the language!) and advance to a better position in a single generation, then your single variable is lacking. The response of "go back 400 years" does not explain away the discrepancy. The common-sense approach is to consider other factors too.

[40acres]

> If a similar minority group can start from a worse position (not even knowing the language!) and advance to a better position in a single generation, then your single variable is lacking.

I can't agree with this sentence. I agree, not knowing the language puts you in a bad spot, but I think you are really underestimating the level of discrimination vs. blacks in America if you think simply "not knowing the language" is enough to put some immigrant group in a worse position than blacks in America.

I'm not sure what other variables you'd like me to use in this analysis but I think if you look back over the history of America you see that others have used one variable to levy their discrimination and it's always been race.

[Clanan]

Are you saying present discrimination can explain the wealth gap? my initial response assumed you meant historical discrimination explains the current wealth gap. Thus, if other non-white groups can start at a similar level and attain a higher outcome, then I would posit that other variables must play a role. But maybe you're saying present discrimination (not levied at other groups) can explain it.

> others have used one variable to levy their discrimination and it's always been race

There have been countless forms of discrimination, not all of them associated with race. After all, it's imperfect people dealing with imperfect people.

Other factors I think are also relevant to present-day wealth gaps: family norms/stability (e.g. single-parent prevalence), cultural expectations, education, location. Undoubtedly these are entwined with each other and with the variable of race.

[40acres]

I think historical and present discrimination explains the gap, but I would say that the historical discrimination plays a bigger role because it has had time to "compound".

My general defense against the "what about other minorities" argument is that other minorities are not starting from a similar position to blacks in America and that 400 years of discrimination has compounded and sets blacks back.

The other factors would be very interesting to analyze but once again I think you would need to understand the entire history of America and racial discrimination to make a full comparison, for example:

- Family Norms / Stability: When comparing this across races you would need to take in account a few things, such as the disproportionate amount of black men who are incarcerated and how that affects family dynamics.

- Education: You would need to consider the fact that most public schools are funded via property tax, and then you would need to dig deep into housing discrimination history to see why property values in black neighborhoods are so low and why the schools are poorly funded also.. schools were segregated for a long time and are still pretty segregated now.

- Location: Most African Americans in America live in the south, which has a lower GDP than other parts of America. However, the south was once an economic power house in America... but the engine of that power house (slaves) never benefited from the wealth they generated. So that would also be interesting to analyze.

[SlowRobotAhead]

>I can't agree with this sentence.

Whether you do or don't doesn't really matter. Post after post has made the point that you are focusing on a single variable and it is clear that it's not explicit causation for the effects like you claim.

[40acres]

Like I said earlier: I'm not sure what kind of variables you'd like to include within this variance but I'd LOVE to to hear any suggestions.

[sp527]

There are at least two variables he's missing that matter a lot:

(1) Selection bias. The pool of immigrants who make it to America in the first place likely skews well above average.

(2) Culture/ecosystem problems in black communities, even if it's politically incorrect to argue it. Black neighborhoods are plagued by gang culture/violence, drugs, patriarchal absenteeism (estimates vary, but roughly 50% seems likely), intergenerational educational deficit (if parents are illiterate/undereducated, their children are likely to be so as well), and various other more generic issues that stem from chronic poverty.

[0x4f3759df]

If the level of absenteeism is very high, it is very likely that the parents are renters and not homeowners, so it circles back a little to the main point.

[JumpCrisscross]

> If a similar minority group can start from a worse position (not even knowing the language!)

I don't know if we can say emigrating Cambodians were in a worse position than impoverished blacks . Immigrants self select for being willing to leave everything they know for the hope of a better life; they have also competently navigated a difficult process. This selection bias is accentuated in war, when the logistics of escape become trickier. Communities then cohere and reinforce each other on the other side.

Contrast that with American blacks. Captured by coastal kings who sold them to Europeans who transported them here against their wills. Any who stood up or out got eliminated. Loose to non-existent intergenerational information and wealth transfer. Et cetera

[theandrewbailey]

All the American blacks you refer to are dead, and can't be compared to far more recent Cambodian American immigration. Even if said blacks had wealth, its gone and irrelevant to modern blacks.

[dnomad]

This makes even less sense than the original question.

The original poster posits a theory that generations of housing discrimination contributed to the enormous racial wealth gap. Another poster comes along and says "what about these immigrants who didn't face generations of housing discrimination?" And the conclusion of this is that the "single-variable approach" doesn't work.

It's too bad because the original point stands and in fact it's well documented in the literature. In fact an excellent book, The Color of Law [1], was recently published that shows very clearly in excruciating detail how racist policies systematically worked to deprive blacks of property and wealth.

But no, let's talk about the very different experience of the Cambodians and other minorities so we can continue to blame the blacks.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Color-Law-Forgotten-Government-Segreg...

[Clanan]

That's an uncharitable read of my comment. (Or more likely my comment was clear as mud.) As you said, the above theory was that the current wealth gap can be explained by generations of discrimination. But if another non-white group can enter at a similar "difficulty" level and attain higher results, maybe the explanation is more complicated. I think then the focus would need to be on current (possibly discriminatory) policies and factors, rather than historical ones. Education, family unit, cultural factors, etc.