The present study conceptualizes earnings inequality between black and white men as a three-stage dynamic process: the pre-market human capital acquisition, the labor-market entry, and the longitudinal career progression. Based on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), this framework is put to an empirical test that leads to two major conclusions. First, overall patterns of black-white earnings inequality are shaped primarily at labor-market entry as opposed to developing within the labor market. Second, the longitudinal progression of earnings inequality exhibits distinctive trajectories across different pre-market groups. Less-educated black men face a wider earnings gap at labor-market entry, but the gap stays relatively stable over time. Highly educated black men face a narrower earnings gap at labor-market entry, but the gap widens over time. I attribute these patterns to the temporal-specific interplays between race and a series of labor-market mechanisms.

中文翻译：

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黑人和白人之间收入不平等的动态框架

本研究将黑人和白人男性之间的收入不平等概念化为三个阶段的动态过程：上市前人力资本获取、劳动力市场进入和纵向职业发展。基于收入动态（PSID）的小组研究，该框架经过实证检验，得出两个主要结论。首先，黑白收入不平等的总体模式主要是在劳动力市场进入时形成的，而不是在劳动力市场内发展的。其次，收入不平等的纵向发展在不同的上市前群体中表现出独特的轨迹。受教育程度较低的黑人男性在进入劳动力市场时面临更大的收入差距，但随着时间的推移，这种差距会保持相对稳定。受过高等教育的黑人男性在进入劳动力市场时面临更窄的收入差距，但差距随着时间的推移而扩大。我将这些模式归因于种族和一系列劳动力市场机制之间特定时间的相互作用。