One of the vignettes in my "The haves and the have-nots" has to do with data from Obama's "Dreams from my father". In the book Obama gives the wage of his grandfather in 1927 Kenya (the wages were entered into a special booklet used to control Black laborers...
...so White employers could write whether the worker was hard-working, lazy etc.)
Now it so happens that we have an income survey for 1927 Kenya & can locate Obama's grandfather in Kenyan income distribution of the time.
Now it so happens that we have an income survey for 1927 Kenya & can locate Obama's grandfather in Kenyan income distribution of the time.
His wage was good for a Black man ~2x the subsistence but only 1/66 (not a typo) of European average income in Kenya. 
In the same book, Obama's mother very nicely defines what is the meaning of the "citizenship rent".
We can also see the dashed hopes of Kenyan economic success held at the time of independence (& shared by Obama's father) as Kenyan income gradually deteriorated compared to the US.
[Will speak of these topics-what can we learn from literature-this pm re Dan Shaviro's book.]
[Will speak of these topics-what can we learn from literature-this pm re Dan Shaviro's book.]
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