Race and Economics

Race & Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination? by Walter E. Williams, Hoover Institution Press, 2011. 

In 1931 the Davis-Bacon Act (named for Senator James J. Davis and Representative Robert L. Bacon) was passed. It required that employees of firms that received federal government contracts should receive wages no lower than the prevailing market wage. It was passed with the support of white union officials with the purpose of excluding black people who were willing to work for below-market wages as a way to break into the job market.