Greater racial integration in U.S. would spur economic growth: Moody’s

An analysis published Wednesday by Moody’s showed that racial integration reaps significant benefits for communities — and could have a significant impact on U.S. economic output.

Moody’s paper reported that “that the more racially integrated our society, the stronger our economy.”

It estimated that the U.S.’s real gross domestic product growth in the next ten years would increase from 2.4% to 2.7% annually if more U.S. communities reached integration levels of some of the nation’s more diverse cities. 

“This would be an economic game changer,” the paper said. “Of course, racial integration is at best slow to change, but even modest changes to encourage integrated communities could meaningfully boost our economy’s longterm growth.”

The paper detailed how the COVID-19 pandemic has hit minority communities harder and highlighted the significant wealth gap between white people and Black and Hispanic people.

It also shows that places with more integration tend to have more credit, larger companies and less homicides.

The analysis added that the long-term benefits of more racial integration would be especially significant in the coming years as minority communities are set to become the majority of Americans by the middle of the century. 

“This is not simply an academic statistical result that if addressed eventually means a few extra dollars for a few families,” the economists’ report said. “It adds up to real money that could substantially improve the long-term financial success of all Americans.”