Why Black Americans Stay Poor

Over the past few decades, black Americans have gained on whites in a lot of areas, including education, two-parent families and employment. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to have helped them erase what may be the most important disparity: wealth.

My Bloomberg colleague Peter Coy reported last week on a study exploring the idea that racial wealth inequality stems from life choices and personal achievement -- that is, that blacks would be as rich as whites if only they got good educations, formed stronger families, worked hard and saved money. Using data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the researchers found that, as of 2013, none of that seemed to matter: Whether they were college-educated, married with kids, employed full-time or prudent savers, black families’ net worth was invariably many times lower than that of white families with the same characteristics.