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Are There Racial Gaps in High School Leadership Opportunities? Do Academics Matter More?

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  • Catherine Weinberger

Abstract

Participation in high school sports and leadership activities is typically associated with later adult earnings premia. In stark contrast to the large but diminishing racial disadvantage found in other measures of educational opportunity, this analysis of high school leadership development finds few examples of racial disadvantage in historical 1960 data, but an emerging disadvantage to black female students between 1972 and 2004. Earnings regressions reveal positive earnings premia to black women who engaged in sports and leadership activities as adolescents, but not to black men. Particularly large premia to higher math scores (or penalties to lower math scores) among black workers are also observed. These findings call into question any world-view in which U.S. wages are a simple function of observable worker qualifications, and highlight the continued need to monitor equitable access to educational opportunities in U.S. schools. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

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  • Catherine Weinberger, 2014. "Are There Racial Gaps in High School Leadership Opportunities? Do Academics Matter More?," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 41(4), pages 393-409, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:blkpoe:v:41:y:2014:i:4:p:393-409
    DOI: 10.1007/s12114-014-9198-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Catherine J. Weinberger, 2018. "Engineering Educational Opportunity: Impacts of 1970s and 1980s Policies to Increase the Share of Black College Graduates with a Major in Engineering or Computer Science," NBER Chapters, in: US Engineering in a Global Economy, pages 87-128, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Catherine J. Weinberger, 2017. "Engineering Educational Opportunity: Impacts of 1970s and 1980s Policies to Increase the Share of Black College Graduates with Major in Engineering or Computer Science," NBER Working Papers 23703, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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