IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v43y2024i1p258-288.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impacts of COVID‐19 on racial inequality in business earnings

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Fairlie

Abstract

Many small businesses closed in the pandemic, but were economic losses disproportionately felt by businesses owned by people of color? This paper provides the first study of the impacts of COVID‐19 on racial inequality in business earnings. Pandemic‐induced losses to business earnings in 2020 were 16% to 19% for all business owners. Racial inequality increased in the pandemic: Black business owners experienced larger negative impacts on business earnings of 12% to 14% relative to White business owners. Regression estimates for Latinx and Asian business owners reveal negative point estimates but the estimates are not statistically significant. Using Blinder‐Oaxaca decompositions and a new pandemic‐focused decomposition technique, I find that the industry concentrations of Black, Latinx, and Asian business owners placed each of these groups at a higher risk of experiencing disproportionate business earnings losses in the pandemic. Higher education levels among Asian business owners helped insulate them from larger losses from COVID‐19. In the following year of economic recovery, 2021, business earnings rebounded strongly for all groups except for Asian business owners, who experienced large relative losses (which were partly due to industry concentrations). State‐level variation in policies and disease spread does not explain racial differences in business earnings losses or rebounds.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Fairlie, 2024. "The impacts of COVID‐19 on racial inequality in business earnings," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 258-288, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:43:y:2024:i:1:p:258-288
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.22541
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22541
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.22541?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fairlie, Robert W, 1999. "The Absence of the African-American Owned Business: An Analysis of the Dynamics of Self-Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(1), pages 80-108, January.
    2. William D. Bradford, 2003. "The Wealth Dynamics of Entrepreneurship for Black and White Families in the U.S," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 49(1), pages 89-116, March.
    3. Fairlie Robert & Woodruff Christopher M., 2010. "Mexican-American Entrepreneurship," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-44, February.
    4. Parker,Simon C., 2018. "The Economics of Entrepreneurship," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316621714, October.
    5. Robert Fairlie, 2020. "The impact of COVID‐19 on small business owners: Evidence from the first three months after widespread social‐distancing restrictions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 727-740, October.
    6. Michael A. Stoll & Steven Raphael & Harry J. Holzer, 2001. "Why Are Black Employers More Likely to Hire African Americans than White Employers?," JCPR Working Papers 228, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    7. Fairlie, Robert, 1999. "The Absence of the African-American Owned Business: An Analysis of the Dynamics of Self-Employment," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt84v8v0nr, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
    8. Teresa Kroeger & Graham Wright, 2021. "Entrepreneurship and the Racial Wealth Gap: The Impact of Entrepreneurial Success or Failure on the Wealth Mobility of Black and White Families," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 183-195, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert W. Fairlie, 2022. "The Impacts of COVID-19 on Racial Inequality in Business Earnings," NBER Working Papers 30532, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Robert Fairlie & Robert W. Fairlie, 2023. "The Impacts of Covid-19 on Racial Inequality in Business Earnings," CESifo Working Paper Series 10634, CESifo.
    3. Fairlie, Robert W., 2023. "The Impacts of COVID-19 on Racial Inequality in Business Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 16412, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Robert W. Fairlie, 2013. "Entrepreneurship, Economic Conditions, and the Great Recession," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 207-231, June.
    5. Fairlie, Robert W. & Lofstrom, Magnus, 2013. "Immigration and Entrepreneurship," IZA Discussion Papers 7669, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Robert Fairlie & Frank M. Fossen, 2022. "Did the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program get disbursed to minority communities in the early stages of COVID-19?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 829-842, February.
    7. Fairlie Robert & Woodruff Christopher M., 2010. "Mexican-American Entrepreneurship," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-44, February.
    8. Alicia Robb & Robert Fairlie, 2006. "Determinants of Business Success: An Examination of Asian-Owned Businesses in the United States," Working Papers 06-32, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    9. Robert Fairlie, 2020. "The impact of COVID‐19 on small business owners: Evidence from the first three months after widespread social‐distancing restrictions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 727-740, October.
    10. Magnus Lofstrom & Timothy Bates, 2013. "African Americans’ pursuit of self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 73-86, January.
    11. Aaron K. Chatterji & Kenneth Y. Chay & Robert W. Fairlie, 2014. "The Impact of City Contracting Set-Asides on Black Self-Employment and Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 507-561.
    12. William D. Bradford, 2014. "The “Myth†That Black Entrepreneurship Can Reduce the Gap in Wealth Between Black and White Families," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 28(3), pages 254-269, August.
    13. Alicia M. Robb & Robert W. Fairlie, 2007. "Access to Financial Capital among U.S. Businesses: The Case of African American Firms," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 613(1), pages 47-72, September.
    14. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2007. "Why Are Black-Owned Businesses Less Successful than White-Owned Businesses? The Role of Families, Inheritances, and Business Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(2), pages 289-323.
    15. Robert W. Fairlie & Harry A. Krashinsky, 2012. "Liquidity Constraints, Household Wealth, And Entrepreneurship Revisited," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 58(2), pages 279-306, June.
    16. Timothy Bates & Magnus Lofstrom & Lisa J. Servon, 2011. "Why Have Lending Programs Targeting Disadvantaged Small Business Borrowers Achieved So Little Success in the United States?," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(3), pages 255-266, August.
    17. Milena Nikolova & Boris Nikolaev & Christopher Boudreaux, 2023. "Being your own boss and bossing others: the moderating effect of managing others on work meaning and autonomy for the self-employed and employees," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 463-483, February.
    18. Alfonso Jesús Torres Marín, 2020. "Learning Lessons from the Economic Crisis in Self-employment," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 14(1), March.
    19. Fairlie, Robert, 2020. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Owners: The First Three Months after Social-Distancing Restrictions," MPRA Paper 113127, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Richard Fabling, 2018. "Entrepreneurial beginnings: Transitions to self-employment and the creation of jobs," Working Papers 18_12, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:43:y:2024:i:1:p:258-288. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.