African American Mayors : Impact on African American Economic Development

This paper examines the impact of contemporary African American mayors on the economic condition of African Americans. This study is an attempt to better understand the extent to which African American mayors have improved the performance of key economic indicators specific to African Americans. The primary indicators used to make this assessment are per capita income, labor force participation and poverty rates. Income is the critical variable in this evaluation. Income can be used to make inferences about the economic predicament of a city, as well as, distinct populations within a well defined geographic area. For example, most social programs have income requirements. As such, people with wages and salaries above the national poverty line will not qualify for rental assistance, food subsidies, free healthcare or a variety of other government sponsored programs. More importantly, inferences can certainly be made about the economic predicament of distinct populations based on the percentage of those persons from a particular group who qualify for government assistance. This paper also examines various social, economic and political factors which may impede the ability of African American mayors to successfully improve the economic predicament of African Americans