Economic ideas significantly influence society by shaping business practices, government policies and media narratives. Despite this influence, a comprehensive study of how economists have addressed racial and ethnic inequalities reveals a discipline that has potentially understudied these issues.
In research that I have conducted with Arun Advani, Elliott Ash, Anton Boltacha and David Cai, we analyse over 225,000 economics publications from 1960 to 2020, and identify gaps in the volume and focus of race-related research (Advani et al, 2025).
The two per cent problem
Our most striking finding is the limited volume of race-related work. Between 1960 and 2020, less than 2% of all economics publications were related to race or ethnicity. This amounts to a cumulative total of just over 4,000 articles across six decades. To put this in perspective, we compared economics to sociology, where race-related research makes up over 12% of publications.
While there has been a steady rise in the number of these publications since the mid-1990s, the overall share remains low. But the prominence of this work has risen: when adjusting for the citation rates of the journals where this work appears, the influence of race-related research has actually doubled since the 1990s.
Where the research happens – and where it doesn’t
Research on race is not spread evenly across the field of economics; it is highly concentrated in specific sub-specialties. Using evidence from prominent working paper series, we find that race-related research is particularly prevalent in labour economics, urban economics and economic history. In these areas, race-related research makes up 7% or more of the papers.
Conversely, the topic is largely absent from other major areas. Macroeconomics and finance, which together make up a quarter of working papers, have the lowest shares of race-related research, at below 0.5%. This gap is significant because issues such as wealth inequality and the distribution of financial resources are central to racial wellbeing, but they are not often studied through a racial lens in these mainstream fields.
Shifting topics and missing groups
The content of race-related research has changed dramatically over time. In the 1970s, roughly half of all race-related papers focused specifically on black individuals. By the 2010s, this had fallen to just 20%, as more researchers shifted toward studying ‘non-specific’ minority groups or general ethnic categories.
There has also been a shift in the ‘why’ of the research:
- Discrimination: studies focusing on active prejudice or unfair treatment have declined since the 1980s.
- Identity: research exploring how individuals perceive themselves and their social groups has seen a significant rise.
- Inequality: this remains the most common topic, accounting for nearly 60% of all race-related work today.
A major concern that we identify in the sources is the continued invisibility of certain groups. Despite their growing presence in the population, Latinx, Asian and Native American groups each account for less than 3% of the total research on race in economics.
Why the gap matters
We believe that the trends in economics are not merely mirroring general public interest. When compared to the frequency of race mentions in news and fiction, the ‘spikes’ in economic research do not always align with broader conversations in society. This suggests that the discipline is not fully responsive to external demand for knowledge.
Several factors contribute to these persistent gaps:
- Data constraints: in many fields – including macroeconomics and finance – researchers can struggle to find reliable and large-scale data that breaks down economic outcomes by race or ethnicity.
- Understudied areas: topics common in other disciplines – such as minority-owned businesses – remain rare in mainstream economics.
- The academy pipeline: there is a recognised lack of minority faculty in economics, which may influence the topics that are studied.
In conclusion, while economics has begun to engage more deeply with racial justice in recent years, the discipline still lags significantly behind other social sciences. Strengthening the scientific foundation of race-related research is essential if economists want to contribute meaningfully to public debates on racial justice.
