Journal of Economic Literature
ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)
W. E. B. Du Bois and Economics: A Reappraisal
Journal of Economic Literature
(pp. 38–88)
Abstract
W. E. B. Du Bois is widely considered one of the most prominent American intellectuals of the twentieth century. While Du Bois has been praised for his contributions to sister disciplines, his contributions to economics have been underappreciated. Drawing upon published and unpublished sources documenting his academic training, his involvement in the economics profession, and his overall scholarship, this article shows that Du Bois made enduring contributions to economic science. We trace his intellectual formation as a student of the German Historical School of economics, analyzing his pioneering use of empirical methods to document the plight of Black Americans. Du Bois emphasized the role of power and institutions in structuring distributional outcomes and the importance of economic and social uplift. One implication is that by conducting intra- and intergroup analyses of racial, health, occupational, income, and wealth disparities, Du Bois anticipated the empirical and theoretical aims of stratification economics.Citation
Numa, Guy, and Sammy Zahran. 2026. "W. E. B. Du Bois and Economics: A Reappraisal." Journal of Economic Literature 64 (1): 38–88. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20251789Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- B13 History of Economic Thought: Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
- B25 History of Economic Thought since 1925: Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
- B31 History of Economic Thought: Individuals
- B55 Social Economics
- I00 Health, Education, and Welfare: General
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification