In a forthcoming article titled “W. E. B. Du Bois and Economics: A Reappraisal,”  Associate Professor Guy Numa analyzes the significance of the underappreciated scholarship of W. E. B. Du Bois, one of the most prominent American intellectuals of the twentieth century. The article will appear in the Journal of Economic Literature, one of the most prestigious general interest outlets in the economics profession.

Coauthored with his colleague Professor Sammy Zahran, the article shows that Du Bois was a prolific researcher and an innovative empiricist and details his pioneering analyses that are now embraced by modern economists. Du Bois challenged demeaning narratives of Black disadvantage that prevailed in his day, emphasizing instead the role of power and institutions in structuring distributional outcomes, and underscoring the importance of economic and social uplift. By conducting intra- and inter-group analyses of racial, health, occupational, income, and wealth disparities across time and space, Du Bois effectively pioneered the field of stratification economics. The article rehabilitates Du Bois by excavating his original contributions to economic science.

The article also contains rich details about the life and works of Du Bois. By the age of twenty-seven Du Bois had essentially earned two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s degree, and two PhDs—one in economics and the other in history, a little-known fact. His intellectual contributions were fundamentally interdisciplinary.

The article is drawing on a larger research program on the political economy of Du Bois that includes another paper and two panel sessions on the contributions of Black economists at the upcoming conference of the History of Economics Society in Richmond, VA. This research program encompasses the history of economic thinking, political economy, and economic history.

Guy Numa is currently serving as Director of Graduate Studies and has taught a core graduate course on the history of economic thought, the Economics of Sugar, Rum, and Slavery—a graduate seminar on the political economy of the Caribbean, and Money and Banking.