Comments on “Is there racism in economic research?”

In this commentary I examine the criteria used by Mason, Meyers and Darity to determine whether there is “racism in economic research” and I review the findings of their empirical analysis. I take issue with their classification of an article as non-racist, if in its abstract it states that a particular racial gap in outcomes is attributable to discrimination, and as racist, if it does not state a finding of discrimination. However, I conclude that their regression analyses do not demonstrate racism in academic publishing, even if one accepts the criteria set forth by the authors.