Wealth -- what we own minus what we owe -- matters a great deal for families' economic success. Children from wealthier families can more easily attend college, purchase a home, and start a business. Wealthier families can better bear the costs brought on by a spell of unemployment or an...

The American public has repeatedly indicated that the health of the economy is their biggest concern. An AP election-day exit poll found that 59 percent of voters considered the economy to be the most important issue facing the country while only 15 percent considered the deficit to be...

A crumbling infrastructure is bad for business. Just ask business owners in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. Recently, a water main broke in downtown Baltimore and shut down streets and caused major traffic delays. A number of businesses were forced to close, and those near the break that remained open...

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen recently illustrated how much overt racial bigotry against blacks has been reduced. He used the case of Wesley A. Brown, the first African American graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Brown was the first to "successfully endure the racist hazing that had...

If Latinos are to fully recover from the ravages of the Great Recession, they will need not simply jobs, but jobs that lead to increased earnings over time and that also have good benefits. In short, they will need what we call "good jobs." Recent evidence from the Economic Policy...

Over the last decade, blacks experienced the largest decline in employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. If President Obama's Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is revoked, as the Republican presidential candidates are calling for, blacks and all other groups will find it increasingly difficult to obtain health insurance.

From 2000 to 2010,...

At this time of year, when we celebrate the birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month, we often celebrate the successes of the Civil Rights Movement. But I never hear anyone speak of the many goals that the Movement did not achieve. One such...

Newt Gingrich has been using the fast exchanges of the Republican presidential debates to ignore facts, misdiagnose economic problems and then present wrongheaded solutions. The key fact that he is ignoring is the Great Recession -- the greatest economic downturn the country has seen since the depression of...

It is shocking that in the wake of a deep economic crisis brought on by irresponsible financial practices Congress would stymie the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by not approving a director. President Obama was right to insist that the American public be protected by making a recess appointment...

Social conservatives, like Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, have looked just about everywhere for enemies to heterosexual marriage, but they have missed one place: the American economy. One important factor behind the decline of marriage in America is increasing economic inequality. The epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have shown...

With the formal unveiling of the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King, originally planned for August 28 -- the anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom -- the National Mall will house a memorial to a man who never held the nation's highest office but brought...

For most Americans, owning a home is part of the American dream. But for African Americans and Latinos, this part of the dream is rapidly slipping away. The dream of homeownership for people of color has been battered by predatory subprime lending, the foreclosure crisis, and high unemployment from the...

The metaphor of the federal government as a family that needs to cut back on spending is a popular one today. But when a family finds itself in difficult financial circumstances, there are at least two major options: (1) reduce spending, or (2) increase income. Now imagine a family that...

In 2008, the nation elected its first black president, Barack Obama. While some were celebrating the supposed arrival of a post-racial America, black men more generally earned only 71% of what white men earned. The median hourly wage for black male full-time workers was $14.90; for comparable white workers it...

Remarks prepared for the Congressional Black Caucus Commission on the Budget Deficit, Economic Crisis, and Wealth Creation

Currently, there are over 14 million Americans who would like to work but cannot find work. This is the most important immediate problem facing the country. Although African-American workers only make up 12%...

The vast majority of drug users are white. This fact has been true for the entire "war on drugs." Many whites live in majority white states. Most whites live in segregated communities. How do these millions of whites get their drugs?

Dorm Room Dealers: Drugs and the Privileges of...

For a brief moment in American history, one could argue that the majority of African Americans were middle class. That moment ended last year.

One definition of "middle class" used by social scientists is twice the poverty level. Individuals who live in households that have an income of at...

The African-American poverty rate rose to 25.8 percent in 2009. That the poverty rate would increase from 2008 to 2009 was not a surprise. Black workers lost jobs in 2009. When blacks lose work black poverty increases. Alternatively, when blacks find work poverty declines. The highest employment rate for African...

The blog 8asians recently posted an article stating that Asian men have the highest salary. This statement is both correct and misleading at the same time. It is correct that Asian American men have the highest median wage. But to the extent that it suggests that Asian Americans...

In Paris, the central city is wealthier and whiter than the suburbs.* In the United States, the demographics have been the reverse. Our central cities have been poorer and browner than the suburbs. In the twenty-first century, the United States has begun to look a little more like Paris.

A...