A report from Citibank has calculated the cost of 20 years of racial inequality: $16 trillion, said MarketWatch. The bank's report, co-authored by its global chief economist and a researcher who has since left to become chief economist at the Conference Board, calculated that closing the racial wage gap would have added $2.7 trillion to the economy; improving access to housing credit could have added 770,000 Black homeowners, adding $218 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP); and improving access to higher education could have lifted lifetime incomes by up to $113 billion. The rest, $13 trillion, was calculated to be the revenue yield of providing fair and equitable lending to Black entrepreneurs. If, somehow, someone waved a magic wand and made all these things happen today, rather than 20 years ago, the economists believe that $5 trillion would be added to the economy over five years.

Of course, there is no such magic wand, and recent comments from the CEO of Wells Fargo have added further evidence to this fact. CNBC said that the CEO has had to apologize for comments made over the summer that the bank has not been able to meet its diversity goals because there are not enough qualified people of color to fill the required positions, a statement that rankled Black employees. Another CNBC piece on the controversy noted that such comments likely reflect insular social and professional networks that do not put the bank in contact with promising candidates, which also implies a lack of curiosity to look beyond those networks to find them. Further, when people of color do reach leadership positions, CNBC said it is more often in administrative roles, such as in HR, that are not traditionally seen as paths to higher leadership positions such as CEO.

This latter point mirrors a recent study that found that female executives experience the same effect. Women are more likely to be the executive in charge of, say, human resources, administration or legal. While these roles are very important to a company, they tend not to be where CEOs come from. This means that while women may have a seat at the table, according to the Journal, it does not necessarily make them major players. To be a player requires a job that directly affects the company's bottom line, such as chief operating officer or chief sales officer. Managers in these roles can directly point to their impact at the company in dollars and cents terms, compared to the more qualitative impact that, say, those in administration might have on the company. This makes it less likely that they will eventually be selected for the top role.