Ideology, Government, and the American Dilemma

Abstract

This essay, written in honor of the economic historian Robert Higgs, surveys the economic history of African Americans from the end of slavery to the present day. This history, I argue, was largely one of convergence. However, convergence was not continuous but, rather, was punctuated by discontinuous changes in relative black status. Both ideology B prevailing views about race B and government played key roles in making change discontinuous.