About

Willie Belton is an Associate Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Programs in the School of Economics at Georgia Tech. His initial training and research focus on issues of monetary policy, specifically how policy design and implementation influence the cyclical behavior of the macro-economy. Currently, his research involves multidisciplinary analysis examining the impact of political, cultural, and economic institutions on outcomes related to income distribution, business development, and social behavior. This work integrates public policy, international affairs, and economics to develop broader theories of economic, political, and social development across different ethnic groups and nation-states. Dr. Belton holds a Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University and a B.A. from the University of South Carolina. His teaching interests include macroeconomics, international financial economics, and economic policy, while his research interests encompass economic development, macroeconomics, health inequality, social justice, international development, race/ethnicity, and entrepreneurship.

Research topics

• Economics
• Demographic economics
• Political science
• Monetary economics
• Macroeconomics

Selected publications

• Another Look at Mortgage Lending Discrimination: A Review of Findings

  2018-01-16

  review

  This chapter examines the literature on mortgage lending discrimination. It aims to determine whether the findings of that literature suggest that discriminatory practices continue to exist among financial institutions engaged in the mortgage lending and administration process. The chapter looks at the three distinct stages of the lending process: the pre-application stage, the loan approval/rejection stage, and the loan administration stage. The pre-application stage includes the buyer's interaction with both the realtor and the lender. The realtor provides information on the location, availability, and pricing of housing units. The fair housing audit was developed to determine whether or not complaints of discrimination are valid. Auditing is used for both research and enforcement. Research auditing is designed to identify the existence of discrimination and requires a large number of tests to obtain statistically robust findings. The majority of the research on mortgage lending discrimination has employed statistical analysis in an attempt to document discrimination in mortgage lending behavior.

  PublisherDOI

• Diversity and Social Capital in the U.S.: A Tale of Conflict, Contact, or Total Mistrust?

  RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · 2014-08-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In this paper we explore the relationship between ethnic fractionalization and social capital. First, we test for time differences in the impact of ethnic fractionalization on social capital using U.S. data from 1990, 1997 and 2005. Subsequently we examine the data for evidence of the conflict, contact and hunker-down theories espoused by Putman in explaining what happens over time when individuals interact with those of differing ethnicities. We find no evidence of heterogeneity in the impact of ethnic fractionalization on social capital over time. In addition we find evidence of the conflict theory and no evidence of hunker-down or contact theories. Our results suggest that as communities become more diverse, there is a tendency for social capital to decline.

  OA PDF

• Diversity and Social Capital in the U.S: A Tale of Conflict, Contact or Total Mistrust?

  Review of Economics and Institutions · 2014-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In this paper we explore the relationship between ethnic fractionalization and social capital. First, we test for time differences in the impact of ethnic fractionalization on social capital using U.S. data from 1990, 1997 and 2005. Subsequently we examine the data for evidence of the conflict, contact and hunker-down theories espoused by Putman in explaining what happens over time when individuals interact with those of differing ethnicities. We find no evidence of heterogeneity in the impact of ethnic fractionalization on social capital over time. In addition we find evidence of the conflict theory and no evidence of hunker-down or contact theories. Our results suggest that as communities become more diverse, there is a tendency for social capital to decline.

  PublisherDOI

• Diversity and Social Capital in the U.S: A Tale of Conflict, Contact or Total Mistrust?

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2014-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• International Capital Flows, Federal Budget Decits, and Interest Rates,

  2013-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Coming to America: Does Having a Developed Home Country Matter for Self-Employment in the United States?

  American Economic Review · 2012-05-01 · 31 citations

  articleSenior author

  This research examines the relationship between the economic status of an immigrant's home country and the probability of self-employment in the US. We find that immigrants from developing countries on average have lower self-employment probabilities relative to immigrants from developed countries. Similarly, we find a positive correlation between the current HDI of an immigrant's home country and the probability of self-employment in the US. These result are unexpected given that past research suggests immigrants from countries with high levels of self-employment (developing countries) are more likely to be self-employed in the US. We provide a possible explanation for these results.

  PublisherDOI

• Black–White gap in self-employment. Does intra-race heterogeneity exist?

  Small Business Economics · 2011-11-19 · 12 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Black-White Gap in Self-Employment in the U.S.: Do Cohort and within Race Differences Exist?

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2010-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Coming to America: Does Immigrant's Home Country Economic Status Impact the Probability of Self-Employment in the U.S.?

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2009-01-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Coming to America: Does Immigrant's Home Country Economic Status Impact the Probability of Self-Employment in the U.S.?

  Econstor (Econstor) · 2009-05-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  This paper examines the impact of home country economic status on immigrant self-employment probability in the U.S. We estimate a probability model and find that, consistent across race, immigrants from developed countries are more likely to be self-employed in the U.S than are immigrants from developing countries. This result is unexpected given previous research which suggests that immigrants from countries with high levels of self-employment tend to be more involved in self-employment in the U.S. Developing countries on average have higher self-employment rates than do developed countries but our research shows that immigrants from developing countries have similar or lower self-employment probabilities relative to native born White Americans, whereas immigrant from developed countries have significantly higher self-employment probabilities relative to native born White Americans. We provide two potential explanations for this result. First, immigrants from developed countries may indeed have more and better access to start-up capital from their country of origin. Second, institutional arrangements in the developed world may be similar across countries allowing immigrants from developed countries to have an informational advantage over immigrants from developing countries.

  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere

  26 shared

• Richard J. Cebula

  University of Tennessee at Knoxville

  19 shared

• Yameen Huq

  4 shared

• Usha Nair‐Reichert

  3 shared

• James R. Barth

  Auburn University

  2 shared

• Mikhail I. Melnik

  1 shared

• Kimberly Wildener

  1 shared

• Thomas D. Boston

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  1 shared

Labs

• Willie Belton LabPI