Accounting for the Black-White Wealth Gap: A Nonparametric Approach
Accounting for the Black-White Wealth Gap: A Nonparametric Approach
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DOI：
10.3386/w8466
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发表时间：
2001-09
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Robert B. Barsky;J. Bound;K. Charles;Joseph P. Lupton
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Robert B. Barsky;J. Bound;K. Charles;Joseph P. Lupton
本文指出了一个潜在的问题，在方法的Blinder和瓦哈卡的最流行的方法在文献中分解成一个给定的变量组之间的平均差异的部分归因于一些解释变量的分布和差异的条件期望函数。在其常规应用中，Blinder-Oaxaca方法需要对条件期望函数的形式进行参数假设。我们发现，错误的说明可能会导致在推断的解释变量的分布差异的部分，在非平凡的错误。提出了一种非参数的替代Blinder-Oaxaca方法。该方法不是为条件期望函数指定任意函数形式，而是使用使解释变量的经验分布相等的权重来重新加权结果变量的经验分布。将这种方法应用于净资产的巨大黑白差距，我们记录了两种方法之间收益差异的估计作用的实质性差异。我们的估计表明，收入差距约占总体贫富差距的三分之二。
This paper notes a potential problem in the method of Blinder and Oaxaca the most popular method in the literature for decomposing the mean difference between groups of a given variable into the portion attributable to differences in the distribution of some explanatory variables and differences in the conditional expectation functions. In its conventional application, the Blinder-Oaxaca method requires that a parametric assumption be made about the form of the conditional expectations function. We show that misspecification is likely to result in non-trivial errors in inference regarding the portion attributable to differences in the distribution of explanatory variables. A nonparametric alternative to the Blinder-Oaxaca method is proposed. Rather than specify an arbitrary functional form for the conditional expectations function, the method re-weights the empirical distribution of the outcome variable using weights that equalize the empirical distributions of the explanatory variable. Applying this method to the large black-white gap in net worth, we document a substantial difference in the estimated role of earnings differences between the two methods. Our estimates suggest that differences in earnings account for roughly two-thirds of the overall wealth gap.