September 24, 2020

"Now a major bank has put a price tag on how much the economy has lost as a result of discrimination against African Americans: $16 trillion."

NPR reports.
Since 2000, U.S. gross domestic product lost that much as a result of discriminatory practices in a range of areas, including in education and access to business loans, according to a new study by Citigroup.... Specifically, the study came up with $16 trillion in lost GDP by noting four key racial gaps between African Americans and whites:
  • $13 trillion lost in potential business revenue because of discriminatory lending to African American entrepreneurs, with an estimated 6.1 million jobs not generated as a result
  • $2.7 trillion in income lost because of disparities in wages suffered by African Americans
  • $218 billion lost over the past two decades because of discrimination in providing housing credit
  • And $90 billion to $113 billion in lifetime income lost from discrimination in accessing higher education
Here's the study.

119 comments:

tim maguire said...

Almost a trillion dollars a year off inefficiencies introduced by sub-optimal decision-making around personal biases related to race? Maybe, but I’m betting there are a lot of unsound assumptions behind that number concerning what would happen to that money in the idealized hypothetical scenario of no race-based bias. That is, the books are cooked to put the best possible face on a conclusion they went into the study determined to arrive at.

tim maguire said...

Yeah, there's a lot of “if the gaps are closed” in there—it’s not a study, it’s a fantasy.

rehajm said...

Now do covid.

rehajm said...

...and riots.

Amadeus 48 said...

Totally believable.

Personally, I've lost several billion dollars by failing to invest in Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook early on.

They might want to check those numbers on higher education (a dubious value proposition for the last 20 years), wages (you can see how hard it is to calculate comparable worth), housing (wait--didn't Black Americans get hit hard by shoddy lending in the housing market?), and entrepreneur loans (we know all those guys succeed). The worst business plan in the world is to make loans to people who can't pay them back. We have done a lot of that since 2000.

This is why you shouldn't buy Citibank. They are prepping the market to sell reparations bonds.

eddie willers said...

Right. These entities hate profit and do this only to be mean to blacks. /sarc

I have converted only one liberal into a libertarian (baby steps) and that was back in the days before the 2008 recession. He was making the usual nonsense arguments and I pointed out to him:

"Just watch, the banks that are now accused of being "Red-lining racists" will become "Predatory-lending racists" when the defaults start happening".

He came over to my side when this easily predicted outcome happened exactly like that.

rhhardin said...

Do they assume that the average American Black IQ is 100?

Money Manger said...

This is inoculation should the new Citigroup CEO, Jane Fraser, get hauled before Elizabeth Warren’s Senate Banking Committee next year for a show trial. Which she will, if the senate goes blue.

Rory said...

It seems that Citigroup should have kept the results confidential, divested all other investments, and focused exclusively on high-yield loans to underserved black Americans. That's what banks do, make money, right?

lgv said...

I read it. They don't provide the underlying modeling data to get to the $16 trillion, just the summarized calculation which is understandable in a short publication. But, so many assumptions have to be made to quantify the final number that the range of outcomes.

The conclusion is: "Why Gaps Exist: Racism and
Inequality Are Little Improved"

There you have it. E.g. it's racism and inequality that causes an education gap, which leads to lesser representation in higher paying jobs. It's not cultural in any way. The paper quantifies an effect for which the cause was pre-determined. Based on their own data, we apparently aren't racist against hispanics.

So, now that the cause is rammed down your throat as the explanation for all gaps and nothing else can contribute to any gap, you will now be told clearly what has to be done to cure it (at the beginning of the study):

PROVIDE GUARANTEED WAGES, INCOMES AND JOBS
IMPLEMENT TAX REFORM
PROMOTE FINANCIAL INCLUSION
DECOUPLE HEALTHCARE
ENCOURAGE WORK
IMPLEMENT HOUSING INCENTIVES
INVEST IN WEALTH BUILDING
INVEST IN PROTECTIONS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
IMPLEMENT SALARY HISTORY BANS

If you guarantee wages, incomes, and jobs, you will not be encouraging work, just meaningless low paying jobs.

Implement tax reform? Like, blacks get different tax brackets?

Enlighten-NewJerse said...

The report assumes rather than proves racial discrimination against blacks is the reason for the economic achievement gap between the white and black population in the United States. The bank report recommends a number of solutions which amount to taking money from people who it earned and giving it to black people who didn’t. How that grows the pie or makes up for the failure of blacks to be as productive as whites is missing. Shocking that the bank would allow this crap to be published under their name.

madAsHell said...

This assumes that equality is without cost.

How do you measure discrimination?

tds said...

LOL?

Krumhorn said...

I’ve calculated that I have personally lost over $200 million because the Lakers discriminatorily refused to sign me as a point guard. I feel deeply arsewise fucked

- Krumhorn

tds said...

Why would a business entity share insights* representing significant competitive advantage?

* there's large segment of valuable, but underserved customers

doctrev said...

Clearly the solution is making large loans to blacks so that they can invest in housing and opportunity!

We are led by utter idiots with the historical perspective of hummingbirds.

alanc709 said...

How much money was lost by educating mediocrities based on race, rather than educating the best and brightest without regard to ethnicity?

Breezy said...

There are a great many white people who’ve lost income due to racial preferences. Where did that money go?

RichAndSceptical said...

I want a study that shows loss of revenue from:
1. African American males killing other African American males.
2. African American males doing poorly in k-12 school.
3. African American males dropping out of school.
4. African American males gang involvement.
5. Government programs that promote dependence on government.
6. High abortion rate in African American communities.
7. Affirmative Action programs that put African Americans into colleges that are scholastically beyond what they are prepared for.
8. College sports programs that use and abuse African American athletes.
9. Long term effect on black communities from BLM riots.

Ann Althouse said...

LOL at Krumhorn. I love when material from other posts is repurposed.

Rosa Marie Yoder said...

whatever... first eye roll of the day

wendybar said...

Bahahhahahhahhahha....Yeah, right...whatever.

boatbuilder said...

So let’s all put our money-our personal money, not government play money-into AA/inner city financial ventures. Right?
You first.

SteveBrooklineMA said...

Women make 75% of what men make. Therefore, sexist discrimination makes our economy 1/8th smaller than it should be. That's nearly $3 trillion per year. I wonder how much better their analysis is than mine.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Krumhorn, snort, well done.

Ask Scott Adams about this. His shtick is “what is the difference between African American wealth in 2020 USA as a group vs if they’d been left in Africa?” Who’s writing who a check now?

Paul Snively said...

If the only thing that comes out of the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic is that “studies” and “models” that are nothing more than window-dressing for counterfactual conditionals are treated as being no better than toilet paper, that would be huge progress.

Marcus Bressler said...

What a load of horseshit. And there are people who lap up this nonsense. This year alone, the unwarranted Chinese Virus lockdown and the "mostly peaceful" riots have had more effect. I would put forth the thought that the outright racism of the BLM movement might be a somewhat significant factor in the racism causes it debate.

THEOLDMAN

DEEBEE said...

Critical Race Theory in all it’s grandeur. If something, usually designating victimhood, correlates with race/skin color then forget other factors.
But if something, like crime resounds to negative for pre-designated victims, start talking police brutality.

This whole business of race/color axis can never ever get rid of the stain of racism — much washing of hands it does with statistical jumbo jumbo. First pull out all non-racial factors’ impact and then see how much variability is left. Would probably be just noise.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

Yeah, well if I had not repeatedly shot myself in the foot I would have done a lot better as well. In every area.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

This reminds me of those "what is the value of a homemaker" calculations. I do believe the value of my work to my family's well-being is very high, yet, it's silly when people, women, crow about "to replace me would cost two hundred thousand a year so I'm like the same as a highly paid executive!!!" Well, how much is spent on homemakers? My lifetime earnings (according to ssa.gov) total $84k. While I'm personally pretty low maintenance, that doesn't buy much by way of food, clothes, housing, vehicles, travel, entertainment, and medical care across the 19 years since I was first married. All that has been provided to me, but no one would dare calculate how much that totals. Just like this silly calculation which will be run with and repeated as though it means something without other calculations alongside it which no one will do.

Peter said...

How is there discrimination in higher ed when there is affirmative action everywhere?

David Begley said...

This study is no better than the global warming studies and models.

rehajm said...

I feel deeply arsewise fucked

It's making a comeback I tell ya!

Ralph L said...

So if we drop the racism, we don't need to worry about reparations, blacks will become rich on their own.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Sounds like common core math not real mathematics.

Tank said...

We are awash in never ending bullshit.

Temujin said...

This is a fantasy report based on no actual numbers. It is a supposition report. But you can bet that the numbers and statements in this report will be reported and used regularly as a number to eventually shoot for reparations. Call it a starting point.

These numbers that are be completely wrong, yet used as a regular talking point by the press and those with a movement to push are a regular feature of our lives these days.

Remember the 47 million uninsured that was used for years in the healthcare argument?
The 200 million expected deaths from the Wuhan virus that shut down the economy of the US? (and still has it shut down)
The 12 or 20 years (depending on who is talking) left before (pick one): overpopulation, global warming, global cooling, climate change, food shortage, water shortage kills us.

tim in vermont said...

Somebody once said that Climate Science and Economics are the only two ‘sciences’ where a proof begins “assuming that...”

Jon said...

Did they include estimates for what the resources denied to AAs were used for? I. E. Was it a net loss or gain for society as a whole? If so, what was the NET effect?

Andrew said...

Actually, they're off by 2.8 trillion.

Birkel said...

As somebody with intimate knowledge of banking due to the 2008 financial meltdown, I can tell you they are all Big Government functionaries.

All of them.
To a person.
No exceptions.

This study is not surprising.

Lucid-Ideas said...

My financial prospects have been severely limited because when my great-great grandfather moved to the USA from Germany, people called him "Dutchy" a lot. He spoke French and he thought they were calling him "Douche", which really hurt his feelings, and his earnings prospects and consequently his future descendants.

I estimate I've personally lost at least $5 trillion of current value because of American angko-irish douche-bags who can't speak properly and think all central Europeans look the same. Stop calling us Krauts too! I love sauerkraut and that hurts!

I'll be sending you all an invoice.

iowan2 said...

Amadeas picked up on one of the items that tweaked me. Small business loans denied. The housing crash was in part because loans were written for persons that were not financial able to withstand small financial setbacks.

Insty opened my eyes to the govt's getting cause and effect backwards.

Specific character traits lead to markers of success. Home ownership, business ownership. Acquiring a home, does not make you disciplined, does not instill the values of delayed gratification. Does not motivate you to expand your education, does not create the internal drive to complete tasks, does not instill the importance of being on time, honoring commitments, respecting others, hard work, sweat equity.
Positive character traits create markers of success. Giving people the markers (home ownership) of success, does not make them successful.

Lucien said...

How much will it cost to achieve equality in the usual socialist way — by making everyone poorer?

gilbar said...

Phase 1: Collect "information" on "discrimination" of "People of Color"
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: Profit!

Fernandinande said...

Those white people are so bad that they hired two black people to tell the white people how bad they are.

LOL?

Definitely LOL in one sense and definitely not LOL in another sense because a lot of people believe this bullshit (or pretend to believe that 2+2=5 since the correct analysis is thoughtcrime), and the bogus non-working solutions will continue to be expensive and destructive.

West Texas Intermediate Crude said...

Not to mention another trillion of lost income that would have been earned by 20 million aborted black babies.

Fernandinande said...

Here's an example of an expensive and destructive bogus solution in the nationwide fight against naughty white people (Asians mostly bear the brunt of this one, as they often do):

"The campaign against educational excellence spreads to the suburbs."

Fernandinande said...

Here's another expensive and destructive bogus solution:

"Seattle Pays a Pimp $150k to Serve as Street Czar"

With prescient commentary by Tom Wolfe.

Howard said...

LoL Krumhorn. I love the warm glow of passive aggressive racism.

James K said...

Citi should get the Princeton treatment from the DOJ: Investigation for discriminatory practices, which they appear to be admitting to in this report.

Doug said...

Hey, that's some study! I wonder if I could get a printed copy of it's findings? Printed on a nice, soft absorbent, possibly textured and perforated paper?

Qwinn said...

These absurd numbers brought to you by the party whose standard bearer is unable to distinguish between thousands and millions. Literally and repeatedly.

For that matter, he can't distinguish at all between literally and metaphorically.

I'd blame both on his recent dementia if I could (to be generous), except he's been unable to sort them out correctly for decades.

Rick said...

So if everyone below average was instead average we (and they) would be better off? You don't say.

I'm amazed at what passes for insight these days.

J. Farmer said...

The average black FICO score, black bankruptcy rate, reliance on payday loan services suggests that blacks aren’t such a great investment.

Craig Howard said...

This is why you shouldn't buy Citibank.

Agreed. Can social justice investment be far behind?

Or do they still want to make money?

Sebastian said...

"$2.7 trillion in income lost because of disparities in wages suffered by African Americans"

Wait, how does that translate into a loss for "the economy"?

Anyway, did they take into account all the government transfers to blacks, and all the money wasted on criminal justice dealing with blacks?

Balfegor said...

Seeing as Citibank is a bank, two of these items seem like items that fall squarely within the scope of their business activities ("$13 trillion lost in potential business revenue because of discriminatory lending to African American entrepreneurs" and "$218 billion lost over the past two decades because of discrimination in providing housing credit"). $13 trillion in particular is a lot of money, even broken out across 20 years. Obviously, it's not all forgone revenue for Citibank -- their part would just be the commercial loan, and then either the revenue from the loans or revenue from securitizing the loans or whatever. If that $13 trillion is a realistic projection, though, that amount ought to be substantial.

On the other hand, if there's a commercially viable niche market that is critically underserved -- i.e. money is being left on the table -- you'd think they'd be jumping on that now, rather than just putting together a report.

Leland said...

Citigroup has been discriminating against African Americans in their lending practices since 2000 despite The Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act in place since the 1970s? I sense a multi-state class action lawsuit against Citigroup.

mandrewa said...

It's the choices we make that mainly decide our success or failure, but beyond that, yes, the people and community and the political and/or religious ideologies around you can lift you up or pull you down. I believe that the media, the academia, the people behind this study which blames lack of black achievement on discrimination, and left-wing voters in general are a collective negative force that is pulling the black community down.

Discrimination is surely some kind of barrier to black people getting to jobs -- even if the only discrimination that is legal and demonstrably being practiced, and enforced by the government, is against white Americans -- but regardless of whatever discrimination is actually occurring, and who it hurts, the most harmful thing here is surely to believe that it is discrimination that is determining your fate.

JAORE said...

Please make the $15 trillion dollar check out to the Crack....uhh..., it would bounce? Really? Can't you just send him 15 of those trillion dollar coins? ?1/ There IS no trillion dollar coin?

Never mind.

MadisonMan said...

I ponder why the Bank would pay for a study like this. Were I an investor in the bank, I'd be asking that question. Whom did they enlist to do the study, and were the results pre-ordained by that choice (as they frequently are here in Madison when the Council spends money on an outside study).

Gahrie said...

And $90 billion to $113 billion in lifetime income lost from discrimination in accessing higher education

What the fuck? How are Black people discriminated against in accessing higher education?

Every school out there discriminates in favor of Black people in their entrance requirements, often dramatically. Every school out there actively recruits Black students in order to fill their racial quotas. Every school out there coddles and indulges their Black students once they are on campus.

Texan99 said...

"How much will it cost to achieve equality in the usual socialist way — by making everyone poorer?"

No kidding. Sounds like we stumbled into a financial bargain, and saved a lot of lives to boot.

Skipper said...

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics."

SensibleCitizen said...

Get up every morning and try to be your best self. You'll like yourself, people will like you, and if they don't, you'll worry for their soul.

That used to Oprah's mantra that made her fabulously rich and applies equally to anyone who makes the effort.

We are ruining a generation of blacks right now by telling them that because of slavery, they are inferior to whites in every way, and they need special accommodations to succeed. The white separatist intellectuals in 1865 would agree. Privilege is a code word for superior. The democrats never change.

It's revolting to me what ignorant white democrats are willing to say about blacks, collectively.

hawkeyedjb said...

MadisonMan said...
I ponder why the Bank would pay for a study like this.

It was a conclusion that required some effort at supporting data. Conclusion: "We need to beat our breasts to look good in front of my friends." Supporting data: "Go in the kitchen and cook some."

Wa St Blogger said...

Citigroup has been discriminating against African Americans in their lending practices since 2000 despite The Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act in place since the 1970s? I sense a multi-state class action lawsuit against Citigroup.

Princeton admits systemic racism. DOE investigates.

Citigroup admits systemic racism. Time for an investigation? This is a public confession, so it is clearly appropriate to proceed with the prosecution phase.

Todd said...

"Now a major bank has put a price tag on how much the economy has lost as a result of discrimination against African Americans: $16 trillion." - NPR reports.

What a massive pile of BS. I could just as easily say "Professional Education has hurt men due to the gender discrimination on the hiring of male teachers to the tune of $100 Billion". Men are grossly under represented in professional education. This MUST be due to discrimination in hiring of male teachers. I would have been a teacher but I saw/knew the odds. Instead I was forced by necessity to get into tech/software development. I think the teacher's union owes me [lets just say] $20 Million in reparations. Where is my check?

Static Ping said...

Guesswork and wishful thinking to 3 decimal places.

Ken B said...

So, that bank passed up something approaching a trillion dollars in profit then, from not servicing an enormous market other banks were ignoring. Plausible.

J. Farmer said...

To recall the meritocracy thread from yesterday, Black Americans are systematically disadvantaged but not in the manner often discussed. If approximately half of black Americans have IQ’s below 85, that has serious implications for income and wealth generation. It’s perverse that immigration restriction is associated with nativism and racism. Young black men are the ones most adversary impacted by low-skill immigration.

Arizona Tom said...

If Mark Twain were around today, he'd say: lies, damned lies, statistics, and economic studies.

Joe Smith said...

"If you guarantee wages, incomes, and jobs, you will not be encouraging work, just meaningless low paying jobs."

You mean like government union jobs? Except they're not low paying.

Every large city follows the same playbook. Elect a democrat mayor/city council/police and fire chiefs, etc. (all or mostly minorities).

Fill the city bureaucracy with the (unionized) minorities that voted for the people at the top.

Raise taxes on the citizens of said city to pay for all the busy-work jobs and unfunded pension liabilities.

It's an endless cycle.

gilbar said...

J Farmer said...
Young black men are the ones most adversary impacted by low-skill immigration.

Was reading yesterday, about there being a lack of jobs "that Anyone could do"
There's NOT a lack of jobs, "that Anyone could do"; there are LOTS of jobs like that..

So many, in fact; that people from ALL OVER THE WORLD are sneaking in here to Take those jobs
to Take those jobs, from Young Black Men

If Any group should be against low-skill immigration, it should be young black men

Greg The Class Traitor said...

"Since 2000, U.S. gross domestic product lost that much as a result of discriminatory practices in a range of areas, including in education and access to business loans, according to a new study by Citigroup"

So, either the people at Citigroup are racist idiots who should all be fired for pissing away their investors money, by not jumping on all that business.

Or, the people at Citigroup are lying hacks who think the rest of us are all idiots.

They're right about NPR, obviously

In any event, it's a bad idea to do business with Citigroup, regardless of what's up here

J L Oliver said...

How much did Citibank discount for the CRT “facts” that hard work and being on time are a white culture thing?

Tommy Duncan said...

87.3% of statistics are fabricated out of thin air.

Michael K said...

Positive character traits create markers of success. Giving people the markers (home ownership) of success, does not make them successful.

This is the basic assumption that drives all of Affirmative Action and other reverse (not really) racism we see. It's not just race either. Margaret Thatcher bought the theory that selling council houses to their tenants, many of whom were on the Dole, would make them middle class in behavior.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Amadeas picked up on one of the items that tweaked me. Small business loans denied. The housing crash was in part because loans were written for persons that were not financial able to withstand small financial setbacks.

“Insty opened my eyes to the govt's getting cause and effect backwards.”

It was actually worse than that. Banks, presumably including Citi, were allowing “lier loans” to qualify for teaser rates loans. The way those loans worked was that the payments the first couple years would be lower, and then the payments for the remainder of the loan higher to compensate. During those first couple years, the loan principal increased instead of decreased, which the way that mortgage loans are supposed to work. That meant that mortgage loans could be made to people who couldn’t qualify for regularly amortized 30 year loans. Another trick was using variable rate mortgage loans with artificially low initial interest rates. The lier loans then allowed borrowers to effectively lie about some of their income and expenses when qualifying for loans.

It was noticed that the middle class was able to build wealth through buying their house, and paying off their mortgage over time. The underlying assumption then was that people economically below the middle class could move into the middle class through home ownership. Home ownership was thus essentially subsidized (much of it through shenanigans by the Dems running Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buying up the resulting sub par loans) and qualifications dropped in order to bring as many renters, and the like not the middle class by making them home owners. The obvious flaw there was that if a borrower couldn’t qualify under traditional underwriting rules, it was likely that they would default, esp after the teaser rates reset, etc. Making things worse, payments after the incentives for the first couple years expired (and subsidized interest rates expired) payments had to be even higher to payoff the increased loan principal, than if they had gotten a regular mortgage loan. Except that the reason that they needed these subsidized lier loans was because they couldn’t qualify normally. So, they might not qualify for a regularly amortized 80% loan with a $2k monthly payment based on disposable income. So, they got a subsidized loan where they only had to show $1600 in disposable income. But two years later, the rates reset, principal has increased, not decreased, and they now need to have enough disposable income to cover a $2,050 mortgage loan payment every month. As we all know, things limped along, until they didn’t, with real estate prices rising quickly enough that this problem was mostly hidden, until they didn’t. Essentially a Ponzi scheme. And, this one was little different than other Ponzi schemes they work for awhile, until new money dries up, then they explode.

And, we again learned that those running this scheme got causation wrong again. For the most part, the people who bought houses that they otherwise couldn’t afford were in that position because they either didn’t have enough income to cover the mortgage loan costs, or didn’t have good money management skills, including the ability to defer gratification. Those who were in the middle class, who did own their own houses, under regular borrowing rules, were there because they had the income and skills to be there, as well as the discipline to defer gratification.

Jupiter said...

"And $90 billion to $113 billion in lifetime income lost from discrimination in accessing higher education."

Well, that one could be true. An awful lot of higher education wasted on people who can't read. Of course, most of the money spent on "higher education" is wasted anyway. Those who can't, teach.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

MadisonMan said...

I ponder why the Bank would pay for a study like this.

Citigroup is in deep doo-doo and is trying to "Woke" it's way out.

I was on Linkedin yesterday and saw a "woke" post from Citi. It consisted of a video of an African-American pianist playing "America The Beautiful" (natch) on the white keys only. Of course this sounded awful since all flat or sharp notes were missing from the melody. I was then admonished and told that you needed both the black and the white keys to make it sound right. At no point were red, brown, or yellow keys mentioned.

Jupiter said...

"And, we again learned that those running this scheme got causation wrong again."

Not so. The people who arranged to loan all that money to people who would never, ever pay it back then proceeded to package the loans as "bonds", which they then paid the bond raters to rate as investment grade, so they could sell them to pension funds and other institutional buyers. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they didn't lose a penny when the whole thing went sideways. Except maybe from their 401Ks.

Never attribute to stupidity what can be explained by greed and selfishness.

Douglas B. Levene said...

Discrimination on the basis of race is illegal and has been for decades. This "report" would have been more useful if it named names, you know, who discriminated, when and where. Oh, wait - that's not what this is all about, is it? This report just assumes that all racial disparities are the result of racial discrimination, amirite? Never mind.

PM said...

Correction: The conomy.

William said...

If they had invented the printing press during Roman times, they would undoubtedly come up with a cure for cancer by now and RBG would still be alive today. Think how much endurable life would be at this moment if RBG were still alive. Trillions doesn't begin to account for the incalculable loss. What part did racial discrimination play in the delay of the invention of the printing press?

n.n said...

Another "1619 Project"? Diversity breeds adversity.

Wince said...

The Citibank report is essentially making a "supply-side" argument.

Yet, as economists, they really don't explain the multiplier effect of their model, which seems likely to conflate distributional consequences with true deadweight losses to the economy.

Consequently, one would expect that model, as a matter of public policy, to produce elasticities that over estimate the efficacy of pure income/wealth redistribution as a means of increasing national income.

Moreover, their model seems to ignore the negative effect of past redistribution policies (e.g., means-tested aid) in producing the incidence of "wealth and debt gaps... that play meaningful roles in social mobility, especially from one generation to the next."

Disparities in opportunities afforded people do exact an opportunity cost to the economy and society. But this report for political reasons seems to ignore the role of the welfare state policies in replicating and perpetuating those disparities.

Anonymous said...

The study implicitly assumes that all those black kids became Oreos as kids and bought the whole package of whiteness early in life. meritocracy, showing up, standard English, school->marriage->kids, etc, etc

Sam L. said...

Ah,the NPR, I distrust it. I don't listen to it: I'd despise it if I did.

DarkHelmet said...

The big banks (along with so much of the Fortune 100 corporations) have gone all in with the social justice woeness religion. All in. I just found out I get another helping of anti-racism training in my next semi-annual compliance indoctrination sessions. Because the propaganda they have served up previously was deemed insufficiently woke.

Banking is a highly regulated industry, so I guess the top brass has little choice but to follow the political current. Still, a lot of the top brass now seem to enjoy being obedient servants of the cultural revolution.

I am disgusted.

n.n said...

"And $90 billion to $113 billion in lifetime income lost from discrimination in accessing higher education."

Yes, affirmative discrimination beginning in the formative years over the last few decades by Blacks to meet color quotas. Was it Atlanta where they collected taxpayer money and funneled students under a layer of privacy, in darkness? Ah, Democrats, Black at that, Planned Parenthood to manage the population, and anti-discrimination to prosecute discrimination... one step forward, two steps backward.

rcocean said...

And how much did the economy lose because of discrimination against white due to affirmative action? My study says $20 trillion. My study is just as valid as NPR's.

rcocean said...

The Conservative reaction to this nonsense, shows why conservatives always lose. Its a bullshit study. Stop falling into the trap. Stop taking it seriously.

Biff said...

I guarantee that nearly every single person at Citi who works with numbers and whose role involves profit/loss responsibility is ridiculing the hell out of this report, at least among a small number of trusted colleagues. Of course, they'll still have to stand and salute the report in public and in larger internal gatherings if they want to keep their jobs.

Original Mike said...

"$13 trillion lost in potential business revenue because of discriminatory lending to African American entrepreneurs"

One question (out of many): did they assume that all those AA entrepreneurs would have succeeded?

Virtually all "lost revenue" studies are bullshit.

Michael K said...

Bruce explained most of the "Liar Loan" problem but the banks did another round by faking the ratings of bonds based on those mortgages.

Nicole Gelinas' book explains a lot of it.

My review is highest rated there.

narciso said...

sounds like the boston fed study, that undergirded the cra revisions that led to the subprime bubble,

James K said...

The big banks (along with so much of the Fortune 100 corporations) have gone all in with the social justice woeness religion.

It's a circular firing squad, prodded on by an extortion racket of government pension funds and European investors who demand adherence to ESG (environmental,social,governance) policies. They lose a lot of business if they don't toe the line. Instead of pushing back, they each try to outdo each other in wokeness. It won't end well.

eddie willers said...

Citi should get the Princeton treatment from the DOJ: Investigation for discriminatory practices, which they appear to be admitting to in this report.

Bang!

Congratulations to those here that picked up on that. If virtue signaling woke institutions decide to confess to a crime, they should be charged and punished.

That would end this crap I have been seeing since the last century.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

David Begley said:

This study is no better than the global warming studies and models.

Plus predictions of global catastrophes:
1) In 2000, U.K. Independent newspaper predicts "Snow will be a thing of the past in 2020" in Britain.
2) In 2004, the Pentagon predicts that Britain will have a Siberian climate in 2020.

Both things cannot be true at the same time. In fact, neither prediction has come to pass.

We've had decades of similar predictions that never come true. Monitoring my dog's response to rain has more climate-predictive value than these climate models.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Washington Mutual went big into liar loans. They discarded all credit checks and handed-out loans like candy. They managed to amass a huge loan portfolio and became one of the biggest banks around. Then the tulip-bulb bubble burst, their stock value dropped to zero and all their branches became Chase branches.

robother said...

This is like that old economist joke on steroids. (An economist walking down Wall Street sees a $100 bill, doesn't bother to pick it up because its an impossibiiity in an efficient market.)

This Citi economics study asks us to believe that 16 Trillion dollars has just been laying around in the street for the last 200 years of American capitalism, during boom and bust cycles alike, and not one bank, corporation or state has seen fit to simply bend over and pick it up. Right.

James Graham said...

Having, as a CFO of a major, done lots of business with Citi, my heart goes out to my old Citi acquaintances who must be mortified with embarrassment for this nonsensical "woke" crap.

Leora said...

As my mother used to say "If my aunt had wheels she would be a tea tray." if those loans would have been so profitable, why didn't Citi make them?

Leora said...

And I actually believe that discrimination decreases economic output.

Bunkypotatohead said...

The founder of Black Entertainment Television recently estimated that reparations owed to blacks would be approx $14T. That is pretty darn close to the amount of discriminatory lending that Citibank claims occurred.
So I think the banksters need to pony up about $350K to each negro.
Maybe they can spread it out over 30 years. Then reparations will have been paid, we can call it even, and we can get this monkey off our back.

JaimeRoberto said...

Hold on to your wallets, people. We're getting set up for a Bootleggers and Baptists scenario here. The goodthinking people (Baptists) will push for a government program to loan lots of money to blacks. The banks (bootleggers) will support it because they'll make a ton of money off the program.

n.n said...

Then reparations will have been paid, we can call it even, and we can get this monkey off our back.

Well, that, and the People who stood against slavery, and their Posterity who stand against an insidious diversity today. We need to mitigate the progress of affirmative discrimination in its many colors, flavors, and ages. #HateLovesAbortion

Jeff said...

sounds like the boston fed study, that undergirded the cra revisions that led to the subprime bubble

The Boston Fed study was easily demolished by simply noting that, at the time the study was done, the default rates on loans to blacks and whites were identical, which proved that there was no discrimination in lending. If blacks were discriminated against, their default rates would have been lower, as they would have had to have been better risks than whites in order to get loans.

This is a very simple argument and obviously correct. Many of us pointed it out at the time. It takes a certain kind of studied ignorance to not understand it. That studied ignorance is the essence of progressive politics. So of course the Boston Fed study was hailed as a masterwork and used to justify many of the policies that led to the financial crisis. I had a few hallway conversations with other Fed economists about it and was dismayed to find economists endorsing the study because it fit their political preferences even when they knew it was wrong.

Martin said...

As a synopsis of practices that have been unfair to Blacks, sure.

As an estimate of the net cost to society, if this was a class project I would flunk them.

But, if Citi believes their numbers they should start paying.

chuck said...

Sound like BS to me. And I would expect no less from Citigroup.

Rabel said...

We cannot handle the truth.

So we do idiotic things like this to explain it away.

Unknown said...

I work at a major university and am on lists with a couple of national labs. The Executive Order to root out Critical Race Theory has totally panicked HR diversity peoples and programs.

tim in vermont said...

"The art of drawing a straight line from unwarranted assumptions to foregone conclusions.”

Filing that one away.

cubanbob said...

Correct me if I am wrong but there is nothing preventing the US Government from adopting other currencies for payment of certains debts. That being the case, accept the debt and pay it with Zimbabwe Dollars. Heck I would agree to be a sport and pay each recipient one trillion Zimbabwe Dollars. What can I say? I'm a softie.

DeepRunner said...

National People's Republic Radio reported...
"Now a major bank has put a price tag on how much the economy has lost as a result of discrimination against African Americans: $16 trillion."

So I ventured over to the Citi folks' study. Hmmm...i looked at the first couple of pages and scanned various "data" tables, where the standard SJW stats show-up without exploring the "why" of the existence of such stats beyond the standard, "it's racist, and honky has to pay." I am curious about how racism, in The Wokeness Age, is only about Blacks vs. Whites, as though no other ethnic group experiences or exercises prejudice and bigotry. What about Whites vs. Hispanics? Blacks vs. Hispanics? Where do those of Asian culture and descent fit in, and what indignities do they face? While we're at it, how about Native Americans, actual Africans, and so on?

Only White folks are racist. So says the Latte Liberals of NPR and Citi. I say, if Citi can calculate the cost, then Citi should PAY the cost.

Sam L. said...

Say what you will, but I do NOT TRUST NPR.

jg said...

finance sector has been hard-D for a long time; baseless propaganda