{"id":318940,"date":"2021-06-03T15:51:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T19:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=318940"},"modified":"2024-01-12T15:34:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T20:34:35","slug":"racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/","title":{"rendered":"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tRacial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n
\"Illustration

Illustration by Gary Waters<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\tLiz Mineo\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tA look at how and why we got there and what we can do about it\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"badge\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnequal\u201d<\/em><\/a> is a series highlighting the work of Harvard faculty, staff, students, alumni, and researchers on issues of race and inequality across the U.S. This part looks at the racial wealth gap in America.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The wealth gap between Black and white Americans has been persistent and extreme. It represents, scholars say, the accumulated effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism and bears major responsibility for disparities in income, health, education, and opportunity that continue to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider that right now the net wealth of a typical Black family in America is around one-tenth that of a white family. A 2018 analysis of U.S. incomes and wealth written by economists Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick, and Ulrike I. Steins and published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis<\/a> concluded, \u201cThe historical data also reveal that no progress has been made in reducing income and wealth inequalities between black and white households over the past 70 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no surprise. After the end of slavery and the failed Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, which existed till the late 1960s, virtually ensured that Black Americans in the South would not be able to accumulate or to pass on wealth. And through the Great Migration and after, African Americans faced employment, housing, and educational discrimination across the country. After World War II many white veterans were able to take advantage of programs like the GI Bill to buy homes \u2014 the largest asset held by most American families \u2014 with low-interest loans, but lenders often unfairly turned down Black applicants, shutting those vets out of the benefit. (As of the end of 2020 the homeownership rate for Black families stood at about 44 percent, compared with 75 percent for white families, according to the Census Bureau.) Redlining \u2014 typically the systemic denial of loans or insurance in predominantly minority areas \u2014 held down property values and hampered African American families\u2019 ability to live where they chose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 pandemic and its economic fallout had a disproportionate toll on people of color, and many expect that it will widen the gap in various areas, including wealth. At Harvard, experts from different disciplines are studying the problem to find its roots and possible ways to level the playing field to ensure all have an equal chance to achieve the American dream. Here we will take a look at a few, several of which focus on education as a long-term path out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A history older than the nation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Khalil Muhammad<\/a>, Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, traces the roots of disparity to the Colonial period, when the European settlement and conquest of North America took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process began in the second half of the 17th century, said Muhammad, when European settlers stripped Natives of their lands and used Africans as enslaved labor, preventing them from fully participating in the economy and reaping the fruits of their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo by Martha Stewart<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Muhammad<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe two dominant non-European populations, Indigenous and Africans, were subjected to various coercive forms of labor that would be distinct from the experience of indentured European servants,\u201d said Muhammad, who is also the Suzanne Young Murray Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute<\/a>. \u201cAnd as such, racism became an economic imperative to harness land and labor for the purpose of wealth creation, and that did not change in any substantial way until really about the 1960s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact the founders discovered that the issues of Black slavery and equality were so divisive that they opted to kick the can down the road, hoping some future generation would prove wiser or better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans finally gained full citizenship. Many believed that would end the era of Black inequality, but it did not, said Muhammad, because that thinking failed to account for how deeply systemic the problem had become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such misconceptions have tended to make it difficult to gain widespread public support for the implementation of policies to close the disparities between Blacks and whites. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to institutionalize anti-racist practices and policies in civil society and government, said Muhammad, as well to better enforce anti-discrimination laws and investment in schools in low-income neighborhoods. But he also believes a \u201cmassive commitment to anti-bias education\u201d starting in kindergarten is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d said Muhammad. \u201cAnti-bias education is a social vaccine to vaccinate our children against the disease of racism. Imagine what the world would look like in a generation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A legacy that benefits some and hurts others<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over the past decades, many scholars have examined the Black-white gap in household wealth. But it was in 1995 that sociologists Thomas Shapiro and Melvin Oliver put wealth inequality on the map with their groundbreaking book, \u201cBlack Wealth, White Wealth.\u201d Their research analyzed the role of wealth, or accumulated assets, rather than that of income in the persistent racial divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer <\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Alexandra<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIncome is unequal, but wealth is even more unequal,\u201d said Alexandra Killewald<\/a>, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Art and Sciences<\/a>, who studies inequality in the contemporary U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can think of income as <\/strong>water flowing into your bathtub, whereas wealth is like the water that\u2019s sitting in the bathtub,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have wealth, it can protect you if you lose your job or your house. Wealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing families more choices and greater opportunity in the present and the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most scholars agree that the legacy of slavery and other subsequent forms of legal discrimination against African Americans have hindered their ability to accumulate wealth. \u201cToday\u2019s African American adults and children are living with the legacy of discrimination, inequality, and exclusion, from slavery to redlining and other discriminatory practices,\u201d said Killewald. \u201cAnd in turn, white Americans are benefiting from legacies of advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The typical white American family has roughly 10 times as much wealth as the typical African American family and the typical Latino family. In other words, while the median white household has about $100,000-$200,000 net worth, Blacks and Latinos have $10,000-$20,000 net worth. Depending on the year or how it\u2019s measured, those numbers may change, as shown by a report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center, but the wealth racial gap has continued for decades.<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s a staggeringly large number,\u201d said Killewald.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The divide persists across generations, said Killewald, who researched the subject with co-author Fabian Pfeffer of the University of Michigan in an article<\/a> that included striking visualizations. One<\/a> of them shows that Black parents tend to have much lower wealth than white parents, and that Black and white children tend to follow the wealth position of their parents, reproducing inequality across generations. The study concludes that \u201ctoday\u2019s black-white gaps in wealth arise from both the historical disadvantage reflected in the unequal starting position of black and white children and contemporary processes, including continued institutionalized discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How inequality affects education <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many scholars consider education to be the key to narrowing the gap, and economist Richard Murnane<\/a> is one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the last 40 years, Murnane examined the interactions between the U.S. economy and its educational system and the ways in which it has affected the educational opportunities of low-income children, who are disproportionately Black or Latinx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe extraordinary income inequality in the United States diminishes opportunities for low-income families and for children of color,\u201d said Murnane, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Research Professor of Education and Society at the Graduate School of Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising inequality has led to growing gaps in educational resources and learning opportunities between high-income families and their low-income counterparts, as well as residential and educational segregation by income. As a result, inequality poses a danger to the promise that U.S. public education provides children with an equal chance at a better life than their parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Raj<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne statement that most everybody across the political spectrum agrees with is that if a child grows up poor, but works hard and takes advantage of opportunities, that child\u2019s children will have a better life,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat\u2019s less true now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study<\/a> on the \u201cfading American dream\u201d co-authored by Raj Chetty<\/a>, William A. Ackman Professor of Economics, and others concluded that \u201cabsolute mobility \u2014 the fraction of children who earn more than their parents \u2014 has declined sharply in America over the past half century primarily because of the growth in inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economic mobility rates are lower in the U.S. than in some European countries, and the American dream seems to grow more unreachable as inequality grows. Murnane warns that the government must address the problem as large sectors of the American population sink into despair and frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA great many people, especially males, have grown up thinking they would take care of their families, and the inability to do that has left them angry, frustrated, and depressed,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat was what they grew up expecting, and that has not been possible for them. That\u2019s a deep challenge to how people feel about themselves. And that\u2019s a fundamental problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American dream: Out of reach<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Economists Claudia Goldin<\/a>, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, and Lawrence Katz<\/a>, Elizabeth Allison Professor of Economics, believe that the solution to reducing income inequality, which is strongly tied to the wealth gap, is to close the educational divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goldin and Katz examined wages and income inequality in the U.S. from the end of the 19th century to the early 21st century in their trailblazing book \u201cThe Race Between Education and Technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they found was that in periods where there was improved access to education amid technological change, as in the early 1900s when public high schools sprouted across the nation amid the Industrial Age, workers\u2019 earnings rose. Inequality began to grow in the 1980s as the economy started to shift toward knowledge-based industries and the supply of highly trained workers fell below demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Claudia<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Larry<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality, say economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

File photos by Rose Lincoln and Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographers<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around that time, the rates of college graduation began to decrease and overall high school graduation numbers leveled off. For Goldin and Katz, expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou could wipe out a large fraction of inequality by ramping up the education of individuals who are limited in their ability to access and finish a college education,\u201d said Goldin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem of wealth inequality is more extreme than income inequality since the former builds on the latter, said Katz, and their effects persists across generations. The legacies of the Jim Crow era and racism against Blacks are expressed today in residential segregation, housing discrimination, and discrimination in the labor market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Katz, who has been studying housing discrimination and its effects on upward mobility, public policies can be implemented to reduce residential segregation. A study<\/a> Katz co-authored with Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren<\/a>, professor of economics, found that when low-income families move to lower-poverty neighborhoods, with help of housing vouchers and assistance, it is \u201clikely to reduce the persistence of poverty across generations.\u201d Chetty and Hendren, along with John Friedman of Brown University, were the co-founding directors of the Equality of Opportunity Project, now expanded and called Opportunity Insights, based at Harvard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing inequality is spoiling the chances to have a better life than the previous generation. Recent numbers<\/a> show that the top 1 percent has seen their wages grow by 157 percent over the last four decades, while the wages of the bottom 90 percent grew by only 24 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inequality is one of the factors keeping the American dream out of reach, said Goldin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe American dream has sort of shifted from one in which the economic growth of the nation was shared more across the income distribution, where the growth rate of the income of those at the bottom quartile was about the same, if not more, than the growth at the top quartile,\u201d said Goldin. \u201cAnd today it\u2019s not that way at all: the bottom quartile isn\u2019t going anywhere and the top is going rapidly up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To keep the American dream alive and return to the era of shared prosperity, the government must act, said Katz. Both Goldin and Katz believe that an expansion of investment in higher education infrastructure and access to a high-quality college education would have a powerful impact in the lives of many Americans. It could be similar to the effects of the high school movement, which lifted millions of American families out of poverty during the first half of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the early 20th century, we allowed everyone access to high school,\u201d said Katz. \u201cWe have never done that for college, even though college is as essential today as high school was 100 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional benefits of higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The economic returns of a college degree are important, but the social returns are also valuable, said Anthony Jack<\/a>, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorkers who are more educated tend to be in jobs that are more recession- and pandemic- proof,\u201d said Jack, who also holds the Shutzer Assistant Professorships at the Radcliffe Institute. \u201cThey also tend to live longer, have better health outcomes, and be more civically engaged. Education means more than just extra dollars in the bank. It\u2019s also the constellation of things that come along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the road to college has become increasingly harder, especially for low-income people, even though access to college for disadvantaged students has increased over the past two decades. A report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center found that the number of enrolled undergraduates from lower-income backgrounds grew from 12 percent in 1996 to 20 percent in 2016. Most of that growth has taken place in public two-year colleges and less-selective institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Anthony<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Selective universities have also opened their gates to poor students, however. In 1998, Princeton became the first Ivy League university to offer full financial aid to low-income students, and others followed suit. At Harvard, 55 percent of undergraduates receive need-based scholarships, and the 20 percent of Harvard parents who have total incomes below $65,000 don\u2019t pay anything at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, access to college \u201cvaries greatly by parent income,\u201d according to a study<\/a> by Opportunity Insights. Children with parents in the top 1 percent are 77 times more likely to attend elite colleges and universities than children with parents in the bottom 20 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Jack, those numbers showcase that access to college is highly unequal and is influenced by income, race, wealth, and ZIP code. \u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d he said. \u201cHigher education is highly stratified. The wealthier the family, the higher the likelihood that students will enter a selective college. The inequality doesn\u2019t end there. What happens if you are one of the few low-income students who make it into these elite schools?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Jack, that is not a rhetorical question. The middle son of a single mother who worked as a school security guard, Jack rose from a working-class neighborhood in Coconut Grove, Fla., to attend Amherst College, with the help of financial aid. He then came to Harvard, where he graduated with a doctorate in sociology in 2016. Two years later, Jack wrote the book \u201cThe Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students\u201d about what it\u2019s like to be a low-income student in selective universities, partly inspired by his own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elite universities have made progress in recruiting more low-income students to their campuses, but there is much more work to be done to ensure that those students use their four years there as a springboard to a better future the same way their richer counterparts do, said Jack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe real question is not only how to increase access to colleges and universities,\u201d said Jack. \u201cWe must pay attention to what happens once those low-income students move into campus, because that\u2019s where inequality gets reproduced in ways that are sometimes invisible but no less insidious.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Marshall Plan for higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong>So if greater access to public higher education would help close the wealth gap, what we need is a kind of Marshall Plan to fix the system, says economist David J. Deming<\/a>, professor of public policy and director of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy<\/a> at Harvard Kennedy School<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That U.S. government initiative helped rebuild infrastructure and economy in Europe after the destruction of World War II. Deming\u2019s ambitious proposal would likewise focus resources on overhauling and expanding the size and number of two- and four-year public institutions, with a goal of making access to college virtually universal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe ought to set a goal of increasing access to higher education for low-income students and students of color, to basically equalize education opportunity,\u201d said Deming. \u201cWe need to invest in public higher education because it actually would make a difference in terms of intergenerational mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one, public higher education is where most of the nation\u2019s post-secondary schooling takes place. A report<\/a> by the National Center for Education Statistics found that of the 19.7 million college students enrolled in the fall of 2019, 14.5 million attended public colleges and universities compared with 5.1 million enrolled in private institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"David<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The number of students enrolled in post-secondary education has skyrocketed over the past five decades. The report predicted that by the fall of 2029, more than 20 million students will be enrolled in college. Of them, nearly 15 million will attend public institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deming\u2019s vision would involve far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities, many of which have been historically underfunded and understaffed. Instructors are often adjunct faculty who teach large classes and have high course loads, and many institutions lack tutoring and counseling services to help less-prepared students navigate through college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of investment per student, the scale of inequality in resources is much greater in higher education than it is at the K-12 level. As an example, Deming points out that a rich school district might spend 20 percent more per student than a poor school district, whereas Harvard spends more than $100,000 per year per student, and Bunker Hill Community College spends about $10,000 or $15,000 per year per student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust purely in terms of dollars and cents, the disparity is much, much greater at the higher education level,\u201d said Deming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investing in higher public education won\u2019t solve all the myriad problems that affect inequality, such as the declining minimum wage and discrimination in the labor market, among others. But it would be a big first step, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wealth gap between Black and white Americans is examined in this installment of the \u201cUnequal\u201d series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131912115,"featured_media":328094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":261,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"2026-04-02 03:42","document_color_palette":"grey","author":"Liz Mineo","affiliation":"Harvard Staff Writer","_category_override":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1378],"tags":[47761,3508,8498,47764,11711,11789,47763,14483,16519,17801,19308,19397,39203,21364,21923,47760,47755,47756,41284,26707,28595,28631,28736,28942,47753,29407,31470,31658,47759,47757,47765,47758,47754,47762],"gazette-formats":[],"series":[52954],"class_list":["post-318940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation-world","tag-black-wealth","tag-alexandra-killewald","tag-claudia-goldin","tag-david-j-deming","tag-economics","tag-education","tag-fabian-pfeffer","tag-gi-bill","tag-health","tag-income","tag-jim-crow-laws","tag-jobs","tag-khalil-muhammad","tag-lawrence-katz","tag-liz-mineo","tag-melvin-oliver","tag-moritz-kuhn","tag-moritz-schularick","tag-nathaniel-hendren","tag-pandemic","tag-race","tag-racism","tag-raj-chetty","tag-reconstruction","tag-redlining","tag-richard-murnane","tag-slavery","tag-sociology-2","tag-thomas-shapiro","tag-ulrike-i-steins","tag-universal-higher-education","tag-voting-rights-act-of-1965","tag-wealth-gap","tag-white-wealth","series-unequal"],"yoast_head":"\nRacial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities — Harvard Gazette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The wealth gap between Black and white Americans is examined in this installment of the \u201cUnequal\u201d series.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities — Harvard Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The wealth gap between Black and white Americans is examined in this installment of the \u201cUnequal\u201d series.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Harvard Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-03T19:51:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-12T20:34:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lian Parsons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lian Parsons\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/person\/eb0a6f335aa1df1db33a426d73586ba4\"},\"headline\":\"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-03T19:51:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-12T20:34:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/\"},\"wordCount\":3366,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"\u201cBlack Wealth\",\"Alexandra Killewald\",\"Claudia Goldin\",\"David J. Deming\",\"Economics\",\"Education\",\"Fabian Pfeffer\",\"GI Bill\",\"Health\",\"Income\",\"Jim Crow laws\",\"Jobs\",\"Khalil Muhammad\",\"Lawrence Katz\",\"Liz Mineo\",\"Melvin Oliver\",\"Moritz Kuhn\",\"Moritz Schularick\",\"Nathaniel Hendren\",\"Pandemic\",\"Race\",\"Racism\",\"Raj Chetty\",\"Reconstruction\",\"redlining\",\"Richard Murnane\",\"Slavery\",\"Sociology\",\"Thomas Shapiro\",\"Ulrike I. Steins\",\"universal higher education\",\"Voting Rights Act of 1965\",\"wealth gap\",\"White Wealth\u201d\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Nation & World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/\",\"name\":\"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities — Harvard Gazette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-03T19:51:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-12T20:34:35+00:00\",\"description\":\"The wealth gap between Black and white Americans is examined in this installment of the \u201cUnequal\u201d series.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg\",\"width\":2500,\"height\":1667,\"caption\":\"Illustration of man on coins.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/\",\"name\":\"Harvard Gazette\",\"description\":\"Official news from Harvard University covering innovation in teaching, learning, and research\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Harvard Gazette\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg\",\"width\":164,\"height\":64,\"caption\":\"The Harvard Gazette\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/person\/eb0a6f335aa1df1db33a426d73586ba4\",\"name\":\"Lian Parsons\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities — Harvard Gazette","description":"The wealth gap between Black and white Americans is examined in this installment of the \u201cUnequal\u201d series.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities — Harvard Gazette","og_description":"The wealth gap between Black and white Americans is examined in this installment of the \u201cUnequal\u201d series.","og_url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/","og_site_name":"Harvard Gazette","article_published_time":"2021-06-03T19:51:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-12T20:34:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2500,"height":1667,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lian Parsons","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/"},"author":{"name":"Lian Parsons","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/person\/eb0a6f335aa1df1db33a426d73586ba4"},"headline":"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities","datePublished":"2021-06-03T19:51:44+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-12T20:34:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/"},"wordCount":3366,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg","keywords":["\u201cBlack Wealth","Alexandra Killewald","Claudia Goldin","David J. Deming","Economics","Education","Fabian Pfeffer","GI Bill","Health","Income","Jim Crow laws","Jobs","Khalil Muhammad","Lawrence Katz","Liz Mineo","Melvin Oliver","Moritz Kuhn","Moritz Schularick","Nathaniel Hendren","Pandemic","Race","Racism","Raj Chetty","Reconstruction","redlining","Richard Murnane","Slavery","Sociology","Thomas Shapiro","Ulrike I. Steins","universal higher education","Voting Rights Act of 1965","wealth gap","White Wealth\u201d"],"articleSection":["Nation & World"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/","name":"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities — Harvard Gazette","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-03T19:51:44+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-12T20:34:35+00:00","description":"The wealth gap between Black and white Americans is examined in this installment of the \u201cUnequal\u201d series.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg","width":2500,"height":1667,"caption":"Illustration of man on coins."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/","name":"Harvard Gazette","description":"Official news from Harvard University covering innovation in teaching, learning, and research","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization","name":"The Harvard Gazette","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg","width":164,"height":64,"caption":"The Harvard Gazette"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/person\/eb0a6f335aa1df1db33a426d73586ba4","name":"Lian Parsons"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2021\/06\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg?w=150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg"},"articleSection":"Nation & World","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lian Parsons"}],"creator":["Lian Parsons"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Harvard Gazette","logo":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg"},"keywords":["\u201cblack wealth","alexandra killewald","claudia goldin","david j. deming","economics","education","fabian pfeffer","gi bill","health","income","jim crow laws","jobs","khalil muhammad","lawrence katz","liz mineo","melvin oliver","moritz kuhn","moritz schularick","nathaniel hendren","pandemic","race","racism","raj chetty","reconstruction","redlining","richard murnane","slavery","sociology","thomas shapiro","ulrike i. steins","universal higher education","voting rights act of 1965","wealth gap","white wealth\u201d"],"dateCreated":"2021-06-03T19:51:44Z","datePublished":"2021-06-03T19:51:44Z","dateModified":"2024-01-12T20:34:35Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/gazette\\\/story\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/gazette\\\/story\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg?w=150\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Nation & World\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Lian Parsons\"}],\"creator\":[\"Lian Parsons\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Harvard Gazette\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/gazette\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg\"},\"keywords\":[\"\\u201cblack wealth\",\"alexandra killewald\",\"claudia goldin\",\"david j. deming\",\"economics\",\"education\",\"fabian pfeffer\",\"gi bill\",\"health\",\"income\",\"jim crow laws\",\"jobs\",\"khalil muhammad\",\"lawrence katz\",\"liz mineo\",\"melvin oliver\",\"moritz kuhn\",\"moritz schularick\",\"nathaniel hendren\",\"pandemic\",\"race\",\"racism\",\"raj chetty\",\"reconstruction\",\"redlining\",\"richard murnane\",\"slavery\",\"sociology\",\"thomas shapiro\",\"ulrike i. steins\",\"universal higher education\",\"voting rights act of 1965\",\"wealth gap\",\"white wealth\\u201d\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2021-06-03T19:51:44Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-03T19:51:44Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-12T20:34:35Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/news.harvard.edu\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg","has_blocks":true,"block_data":{"0":{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/article-header","attrs":{"blockColorPalette":"","categoryId":1378,"centeredImage":true,"creditText":"Illustration by Gary Waters","mediaAlt":"Illustration of man on coins.","mediaHeight":1667,"mediaId":328094,"mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg","mediaWidth":2500,"poster":"","subheading":"A look at how and why we got there and what we can do about it","title":"Racial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities","titleAbove":true,"className":"is-style-full-width-text-below","backgroundFixed":false,"backgroundTone":"light","coloredBackground":false,"coloredHeading":true,"displayDetails":"","displayOverlay":true,"displayTitle":"","fadeInText":false,"isAmbient":false,"mediaCaption":"","mediaLength":"","mediaPosition":"","mediaSize":"header-full","posterText":"","useUncroppedImage":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"Illustration of man on coins.\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Illustration by Gary Waters<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"Illustration of man on coins.\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Illustration by Gary Waters<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-full-width-text-below title-above-image centered-image\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tRacial wealth gap may be a key to other inequities\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"Illustration of man on coins.\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Gary-Waters2500.jpg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Illustration by Gary Waters<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tLiz Mineo\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2021-06-03\">\n\t\t\tJune 3, 2021\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\tlong read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tA look at how and why we got there and what we can do about it\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p><\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p><\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/supporting-content","attrs":{"id":"e3214b28-85c1-4311-b2f1-edb0e5504bde","align":"left","allowedBlocks":[],"style":[],"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"width":"212px","height":"auto","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020_02_17_Unequal_Series_Mark_square2.png","alt":"badge","caption":null,"lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","id":0,"aspectRatio":"","scale":"","sizeSlug":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020_02_17_Unequal_Series_Mark_square2.png\" alt=\"badge\" style=\"width:212px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020_02_17_Unequal_Series_Mark_square2.png\" alt=\"badge\" style=\"width:212px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020_02_17_Unequal_Series_Mark_square2.png\" alt=\"badge\" style=\"width:212px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.harvard.edu\/in-focus\/unequal\/\"><em>\u201cUnequal\u201d<\/em><\/a><em> is a series highlighting the work of Harvard faculty, staff, students, alumni, and researchers on issues of race and inequality across the U.S. This part looks at the racial wealth gap in America.<\/em>","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harvard.edu\/in-focus\/unequal\/\"><em>\u201cUnequal\u201d<\/em><\/a><em> is a series highlighting the work of Harvard faculty, staff, students, alumni, and researchers on issues of race and inequality across the U.S. This part looks at the racial wealth gap in America.<\/em><\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harvard.edu\/in-focus\/unequal\/\"><em>\u201cUnequal\u201d<\/em><\/a><em> is a series highlighting the work of Harvard faculty, staff, students, alumni, and researchers on issues of race and inequality across the U.S. This part looks at the racial wealth gap in America.<\/em><\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harvard.edu\/in-focus\/unequal\/\"><em>\u201cUnequal\u201d<\/em><\/a><em> is a series highlighting the work of Harvard faculty, staff, students, alumni, and researchers on issues of race and inequality across the U.S. This part looks at the racial wealth gap in America.<\/em><\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-supporting-content alignleft supporting-content\" id=\"supporting-content-e3214b28-85c1-4311-b2f1-edb0e5504bde\">\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-supporting-content alignleft supporting-content\" id=\"supporting-content-e3214b28-85c1-4311-b2f1-edb0e5504bde\">","\n\n","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-supporting-content alignleft supporting-content\" id=\"supporting-content-e3214b28-85c1-4311-b2f1-edb0e5504bde\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020_02_17_Unequal_Series_Mark_square2.png\" alt=\"badge\" style=\"width:212px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harvard.edu\/in-focus\/unequal\/\"><em>\u201cUnequal\u201d<\/em><\/a><em> is a series highlighting the work of Harvard faculty, staff, students, alumni, and researchers on issues of race and inequality across the U.S. This part looks at the racial wealth gap in America.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The wealth gap between Black and white Americans has been persistent and extreme. It represents, scholars say, the accumulated effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism and bears major responsibility for disparities in income, health, education, and opportunity that continue to this day.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>The wealth gap between Black and white Americans has been persistent and extreme. It represents, scholars say, the accumulated effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism and bears major responsibility for disparities in income, health, education, and opportunity that continue to this day.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>The wealth gap between Black and white Americans has been persistent and extreme. It represents, scholars say, the accumulated effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism and bears major responsibility for disparities in income, health, education, and opportunity that continue to this day.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>The wealth gap between Black and white Americans has been persistent and extreme. It represents, scholars say, the accumulated effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism and bears major responsibility for disparities in income, health, education, and opportunity that continue to this day.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Consider that right now the net wealth of a typical Black family in America is around one-tenth that of a white family. A 2018 analysis of U.S. incomes and wealth written by economists Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick, and Ulrike I. Steins and published by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.minneapolisfed.org\/research\/institute-working-papers\/income-and-wealth-inequality-in-america-1949-2016\">Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis<\/a> concluded, \u201cThe historical data also reveal that no progress has been made in reducing income and wealth inequalities between black and white households over the past 70 years.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Consider that right now the net wealth of a typical Black family in America is around one-tenth that of a white family. A 2018 analysis of U.S. incomes and wealth written by economists Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick, and Ulrike I. Steins and published by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.minneapolisfed.org\/research\/institute-working-papers\/income-and-wealth-inequality-in-america-1949-2016\">Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis<\/a> concluded, \u201cThe historical data also reveal that no progress has been made in reducing income and wealth inequalities between black and white households over the past 70 years.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Consider that right now the net wealth of a typical Black family in America is around one-tenth that of a white family. A 2018 analysis of U.S. incomes and wealth written by economists Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick, and Ulrike I. Steins and published by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.minneapolisfed.org\/research\/institute-working-papers\/income-and-wealth-inequality-in-america-1949-2016\">Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis<\/a> concluded, \u201cThe historical data also reveal that no progress has been made in reducing income and wealth inequalities between black and white households over the past 70 years.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Consider that right now the net wealth of a typical Black family in America is around one-tenth that of a white family. A 2018 analysis of U.S. incomes and wealth written by economists Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick, and Ulrike I. Steins and published by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.minneapolisfed.org\/research\/institute-working-papers\/income-and-wealth-inequality-in-america-1949-2016\">Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis<\/a> concluded, \u201cThe historical data also reveal that no progress has been made in reducing income and wealth inequalities between black and white households over the past 70 years.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"It\u2019s no surprise. After the end of slavery and the failed Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, which existed till the late 1960s, virtually ensured that Black Americans in the South would not be able to accumulate or to pass on wealth. And through the Great Migration and after, African Americans faced employment, housing, and educational discrimination across the country. After World War II many white veterans were able to take advantage of programs like the GI Bill to buy homes \u2014 the largest asset held by most American families \u2014 with low-interest loans, but lenders often unfairly turned down Black applicants, shutting those vets out of the benefit. (As of the end of 2020 the homeownership rate for Black families stood at about 44 percent, compared with 75 percent for white families, according to the Census Bureau.) Redlining \u2014 typically the systemic denial of loans or insurance in predominantly minority areas \u2014 held down property values and hampered African American families\u2019 ability to live where they chose.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise. After the end of slavery and the failed Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, which existed till the late 1960s, virtually ensured that Black Americans in the South would not be able to accumulate or to pass on wealth. And through the Great Migration and after, African Americans faced employment, housing, and educational discrimination across the country. After World War II many white veterans were able to take advantage of programs like the GI Bill to buy homes \u2014 the largest asset held by most American families \u2014 with low-interest loans, but lenders often unfairly turned down Black applicants, shutting those vets out of the benefit. (As of the end of 2020 the homeownership rate for Black families stood at about 44 percent, compared with 75 percent for white families, according to the Census Bureau.) Redlining \u2014 typically the systemic denial of loans or insurance in predominantly minority areas \u2014 held down property values and hampered African American families\u2019 ability to live where they chose.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise. After the end of slavery and the failed Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, which existed till the late 1960s, virtually ensured that Black Americans in the South would not be able to accumulate or to pass on wealth. And through the Great Migration and after, African Americans faced employment, housing, and educational discrimination across the country. After World War II many white veterans were able to take advantage of programs like the GI Bill to buy homes \u2014 the largest asset held by most American families \u2014 with low-interest loans, but lenders often unfairly turned down Black applicants, shutting those vets out of the benefit. (As of the end of 2020 the homeownership rate for Black families stood at about 44 percent, compared with 75 percent for white families, according to the Census Bureau.) Redlining \u2014 typically the systemic denial of loans or insurance in predominantly minority areas \u2014 held down property values and hampered African American families\u2019 ability to live where they chose.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise. After the end of slavery and the failed Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, which existed till the late 1960s, virtually ensured that Black Americans in the South would not be able to accumulate or to pass on wealth. And through the Great Migration and after, African Americans faced employment, housing, and educational discrimination across the country. After World War II many white veterans were able to take advantage of programs like the GI Bill to buy homes \u2014 the largest asset held by most American families \u2014 with low-interest loans, but lenders often unfairly turned down Black applicants, shutting those vets out of the benefit. (As of the end of 2020 the homeownership rate for Black families stood at about 44 percent, compared with 75 percent for white families, according to the Census Bureau.) Redlining \u2014 typically the systemic denial of loans or insurance in predominantly minority areas \u2014 held down property values and hampered African American families\u2019 ability to live where they chose.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The 2020 pandemic and its economic fallout had a disproportionate toll on people of color, and many expect that it will widen the gap in various areas, including wealth. At Harvard, experts from different disciplines are studying the problem to find its roots and possible ways to level the playing field to ensure all have an equal chance to achieve the American dream. Here we will take a look at a few, several of which focus on education as a long-term path out.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>The 2020 pandemic and its economic fallout had a disproportionate toll on people of color, and many expect that it will widen the gap in various areas, including wealth. At Harvard, experts from different disciplines are studying the problem to find its roots and possible ways to level the playing field to ensure all have an equal chance to achieve the American dream. Here we will take a look at a few, several of which focus on education as a long-term path out.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>The 2020 pandemic and its economic fallout had a disproportionate toll on people of color, and many expect that it will widen the gap in various areas, including wealth. At Harvard, experts from different disciplines are studying the problem to find its roots and possible ways to level the playing field to ensure all have an equal chance to achieve the American dream. Here we will take a look at a few, several of which focus on education as a long-term path out.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>The 2020 pandemic and its economic fallout had a disproportionate toll on people of color, and many expect that it will widen the gap in various areas, including wealth. At Harvard, experts from different disciplines are studying the problem to find its roots and possible ways to level the playing field to ensure all have an equal chance to achieve the American dream. Here we will take a look at a few, several of which focus on education as a long-term path out.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textAlign":"","content":"<strong>A history older than the nation<\/strong>","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-history-older-than-the-nation\"><strong>A history older than the nation<\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-history-older-than-the-nation\"><strong>A history older than the nation<\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-history-older-than-the-nation\"><strong>A history older than the nation<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/khalil-muhammad\">Khalil Muhammad<\/a>, Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, traces the roots of disparity to the Colonial period, when the European settlement and conquest of North America took place.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/khalil-muhammad\">Khalil Muhammad<\/a>, Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, traces the roots of disparity to the Colonial period, when the European settlement and conquest of North America took place.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/khalil-muhammad\">Khalil Muhammad<\/a>, Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, traces the roots of disparity to the Colonial period, when the European settlement and conquest of North America took place.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/khalil-muhammad\">Khalil Muhammad<\/a>, Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, traces the roots of disparity to the Colonial period, when the European settlement and conquest of North America took place.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The process began in the second half of the 17th century, said Muhammad, when European settlers stripped Natives of their lands and used Africans as enslaved labor, preventing them from fully participating in the economy and reaping the fruits of their work.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>The process began in the second half of the 17th century, said Muhammad, when European settlers stripped Natives of their lands and used Africans as enslaved labor, preventing them from fully participating in the economy and reaping the fruits of their work.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>The process began in the second half of the 17th century, said Muhammad, when European settlers stripped Natives of their lands and used Africans as enslaved labor, preventing them from fully participating in the economy and reaping the fruits of their work.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>The process began in the second half of the 17th century, said Muhammad, when European settlers stripped Natives of their lands and used Africans as enslaved labor, preventing them from fully participating in the economy and reaping the fruits of their work.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figure","align":"wide","className":"wp-block-table","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/columns","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","className":"alignwide media-cluster","isStackedOnMobile":true,"templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figcaption","className":"wp-element-caption","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--caption","align":"","content":"\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--credit","align":"","content":"Photo by Martha Stewart","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photo by Martha Stewart<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photo by Martha Stewart<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photo by Martha Stewart<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">\n\n<\/figcaption>\n","innerContent":["\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">","\n\n","<\/figcaption>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photo by Martha Stewart<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photo by Martha Stewart<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"align":"none","id":328170,"sizeSlug":"full","className":"is-resized","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Faculty_Muhammad_Khalil_MS041_2500.jpg","alt":"Muhammad Khalil.","caption":null,"lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Faculty_Muhammad_Khalil_MS041_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Muhammad Khalil.\" class=\"wp-image-328170\"\/><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Faculty_Muhammad_Khalil_MS041_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Muhammad Khalil.\" class=\"wp-image-328170\"\/><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Faculty_Muhammad_Khalil_MS041_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Muhammad Khalil.\" class=\"wp-image-328170\"\/><\/figure>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Faculty_Muhammad_Khalil_MS041_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Muhammad Khalil.\" class=\"wp-image-328170\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">","\n\n","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photo by Martha Stewart<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Faculty_Muhammad_Khalil_MS041_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Muhammad Khalil.\" class=\"wp-image-328170\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\"><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\">","<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photo by Martha Stewart<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Faculty_Muhammad_Khalil_MS041_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Muhammad Khalil.\" class=\"wp-image-328170\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cThe two dominant non-European populations, Indigenous and Africans, were subjected to various coercive forms of labor that would be distinct from the experience of indentured European servants,\u201d said Muhammad, who is also the Suzanne Young Murray Professor at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radcliffe.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Radcliffe Institute<\/a>. \u201cAnd as such, racism became an economic imperative to harness land and labor for the purpose of wealth creation, and that did not change in any substantial way until really about the 1960s.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cThe two dominant non-European populations, Indigenous and Africans, were subjected to various coercive forms of labor that would be distinct from the experience of indentured European servants,\u201d said Muhammad, who is also the Suzanne Young Murray Professor at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radcliffe.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Radcliffe Institute<\/a>. \u201cAnd as such, racism became an economic imperative to harness land and labor for the purpose of wealth creation, and that did not change in any substantial way until really about the 1960s.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cThe two dominant non-European populations, Indigenous and Africans, were subjected to various coercive forms of labor that would be distinct from the experience of indentured European servants,\u201d said Muhammad, who is also the Suzanne Young Murray Professor at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radcliffe.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Radcliffe Institute<\/a>. \u201cAnd as such, racism became an economic imperative to harness land and labor for the purpose of wealth creation, and that did not change in any substantial way until really about the 1960s.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cThe two dominant non-European populations, Indigenous and Africans, were subjected to various coercive forms of labor that would be distinct from the experience of indentured European servants,\u201d said Muhammad, who is also the Suzanne Young Murray Professor at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radcliffe.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Radcliffe Institute<\/a>. \u201cAnd as such, racism became an economic imperative to harness land and labor for the purpose of wealth creation, and that did not change in any substantial way until really about the 1960s.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"In fact the founders discovered that the issues of Black slavery and equality were so divisive that they opted to kick the can down the road, hoping some future generation would prove wiser or better.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>In fact the founders discovered that the issues of Black slavery and equality were so divisive that they opted to kick the can down the road, hoping some future generation would prove wiser or better.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>In fact the founders discovered that the issues of Black slavery and equality were so divisive that they opted to kick the can down the road, hoping some future generation would prove wiser or better.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>In fact the founders discovered that the issues of Black slavery and equality were so divisive that they opted to kick the can down the road, hoping some future generation would prove wiser or better.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"With the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans finally gained full citizenship. Many believed that would end the era of Black inequality, but it did not, said Muhammad, because that thinking failed to account for how deeply systemic the problem had become.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>With the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans finally gained full citizenship. Many believed that would end the era of Black inequality, but it did not, said Muhammad, because that thinking failed to account for how deeply systemic the problem had become.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>With the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans finally gained full citizenship. Many believed that would end the era of Black inequality, but it did not, said Muhammad, because that thinking failed to account for how deeply systemic the problem had become.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>With the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans finally gained full citizenship. Many believed that would end the era of Black inequality, but it did not, said Muhammad, because that thinking failed to account for how deeply systemic the problem had become.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Such misconceptions have tended to make it difficult to gain widespread public support for the implementation of policies to close the disparities between Blacks and whites. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to institutionalize anti-racist practices and policies in civil society and government, said Muhammad, as well to better enforce anti-discrimination laws and investment in schools in low-income neighborhoods. But he also believes a \u201cmassive commitment to anti-bias education\u201d starting in kindergarten is necessary.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Such misconceptions have tended to make it difficult to gain widespread public support for the implementation of policies to close the disparities between Blacks and whites. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to institutionalize anti-racist practices and policies in civil society and government, said Muhammad, as well to better enforce anti-discrimination laws and investment in schools in low-income neighborhoods. But he also believes a \u201cmassive commitment to anti-bias education\u201d starting in kindergarten is necessary.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Such misconceptions have tended to make it difficult to gain widespread public support for the implementation of policies to close the disparities between Blacks and whites. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to institutionalize anti-racist practices and policies in civil society and government, said Muhammad, as well to better enforce anti-discrimination laws and investment in schools in low-income neighborhoods. But he also believes a \u201cmassive commitment to anti-bias education\u201d starting in kindergarten is necessary.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Such misconceptions have tended to make it difficult to gain widespread public support for the implementation of policies to close the disparities between Blacks and whites. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to institutionalize anti-racist practices and policies in civil society and government, said Muhammad, as well to better enforce anti-discrimination laws and investment in schools in low-income neighborhoods. But he also believes a \u201cmassive commitment to anti-bias education\u201d starting in kindergarten is necessary.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d said Muhammad. \u201cAnti-bias education is a social vaccine to vaccinate our children against the disease of racism. Imagine what the world would look like in a generation.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d said Muhammad. \u201cAnti-bias education is a social vaccine to vaccinate our children against the disease of racism. Imagine what the world would look like in a generation.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d said Muhammad. \u201cAnti-bias education is a social vaccine to vaccinate our children against the disease of racism. Imagine what the world would look like in a generation.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d said Muhammad. \u201cAnti-bias education is a social vaccine to vaccinate our children against the disease of racism. Imagine what the world would look like in a generation.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textAlign":"","content":"<strong>A legacy that benefits some and hurts others<\/strong>","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A legacy that benefits some and hurts others<\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A legacy that benefits some and hurts others<\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A legacy that benefits some and hurts others<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Over the past decades, many scholars have examined the Black-white gap in household wealth. But it was in 1995 that sociologists Thomas Shapiro and Melvin Oliver put wealth inequality on the map with their groundbreaking book, \u201cBlack Wealth, White Wealth.\u201d Their research analyzed the role of wealth, or accumulated assets, rather than that of income in the persistent racial divide.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Over the past decades, many scholars have examined the Black-white gap in household wealth. But it was in 1995 that sociologists Thomas Shapiro and Melvin Oliver put wealth inequality on the map with their groundbreaking book, \u201cBlack Wealth, White Wealth.\u201d Their research analyzed the role of wealth, or accumulated assets, rather than that of income in the persistent racial divide.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Over the past decades, many scholars have examined the Black-white gap in household wealth. But it was in 1995 that sociologists Thomas Shapiro and Melvin Oliver put wealth inequality on the map with their groundbreaking book, \u201cBlack Wealth, White Wealth.\u201d Their research analyzed the role of wealth, or accumulated assets, rather than that of income in the persistent racial divide.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Over the past decades, many scholars have examined the Black-white gap in household wealth. But it was in 1995 that sociologists Thomas Shapiro and Melvin Oliver put wealth inequality on the map with their groundbreaking book, \u201cBlack Wealth, White Wealth.\u201d Their research analyzed the role of wealth, or accumulated assets, rather than that of income in the persistent racial divide.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figure","align":"wide","className":"wp-block-table","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/columns","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","className":"alignwide media-cluster","isStackedOnMobile":true,"templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figcaption","className":"wp-element-caption","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--caption","align":"","content":"\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. ","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. <\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. <\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. <\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--credit","align":"","content":"Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer ","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer <\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer <\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer <\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">\n\n<\/figcaption>\n","innerContent":["\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">","\n\n","<\/figcaption>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer <\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer <\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"align":"none","id":328286,"sizeSlug":"full","className":"is-resized","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/042221_Killewald_006_2500.jpg","alt":"Alexandra Killewald.","caption":null,"lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/042221_Killewald_006_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Alexandra Killewald.\" class=\"wp-image-328286\"\/><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/042221_Killewald_006_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Alexandra Killewald.\" class=\"wp-image-328286\"\/><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/042221_Killewald_006_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Alexandra Killewald.\" class=\"wp-image-328286\"\/><\/figure>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/042221_Killewald_006_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Alexandra Killewald.\" class=\"wp-image-328286\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">","\n\n","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer <\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/042221_Killewald_006_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Alexandra Killewald.\" class=\"wp-image-328286\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\"><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\">","<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer <\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/042221_Killewald_006_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Alexandra Killewald.\" class=\"wp-image-328286\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cIncome is unequal, but wealth is even\u00a0more unequal,\u201d said\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/akillewald\/home\">Alexandra Killewald<\/a>, professor of sociology in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fas.harvard.edu\/\">Faculty of Art and Sciences<\/a>, who studies inequality in the contemporary U.S.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cIncome is unequal, but wealth is even more unequal,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/akillewald\/home\">Alexandra Killewald<\/a>, professor of sociology in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fas.harvard.edu\/\">Faculty of Art and Sciences<\/a>, who studies inequality in the contemporary U.S.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cIncome is unequal, but wealth is even more unequal,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/akillewald\/home\">Alexandra Killewald<\/a>, professor of sociology in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fas.harvard.edu\/\">Faculty of Art and Sciences<\/a>, who studies inequality in the contemporary U.S.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cIncome is unequal, but wealth is even more unequal,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/akillewald\/home\">Alexandra Killewald<\/a>, professor of sociology in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fas.harvard.edu\/\">Faculty of Art and Sciences<\/a>, who studies inequality in the contemporary U.S.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cYou can think of income as<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>water flowing into your bathtub, whereas wealth is like the water that\u2019s sitting in the bathtub,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have wealth, it can protect you if you lose your job or your house. Wealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing families more choices and greater opportunity in the present and the future.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cYou can think of income as<strong> <\/strong>water flowing into your bathtub, whereas wealth is like the water that\u2019s sitting in the bathtub,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have wealth, it can protect you if you lose your job or your house. Wealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing families more choices and greater opportunity in the present and the future.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cYou can think of income as<strong> <\/strong>water flowing into your bathtub, whereas wealth is like the water that\u2019s sitting in the bathtub,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have wealth, it can protect you if you lose your job or your house. Wealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing families more choices and greater opportunity in the present and the future.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cYou can think of income as<strong> <\/strong>water flowing into your bathtub, whereas wealth is like the water that\u2019s sitting in the bathtub,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have wealth, it can protect you if you lose your job or your house. Wealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing families more choices and greater opportunity in the present and the future.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Most scholars agree that the legacy of slavery and other subsequent forms of legal discrimination against African Americans have hindered their ability to accumulate wealth.\u00a0\u201cToday\u2019s African American adults\u00a0and children\u00a0are living with the legacy of discrimination, inequality, and\u00a0exclusion, from slavery to redlining and other discriminatory practices,\u201d said Killewald. \u201cAnd in turn, white Americans are benefiting from legacies of advantage.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Most scholars agree that the legacy of slavery and other subsequent forms of legal discrimination against African Americans have hindered their ability to accumulate wealth. \u201cToday\u2019s African American adults and children are living with the legacy of discrimination, inequality, and exclusion, from slavery to redlining and other discriminatory practices,\u201d said Killewald. \u201cAnd in turn, white Americans are benefiting from legacies of advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Most scholars agree that the legacy of slavery and other subsequent forms of legal discrimination against African Americans have hindered their ability to accumulate wealth. \u201cToday\u2019s African American adults and children are living with the legacy of discrimination, inequality, and exclusion, from slavery to redlining and other discriminatory practices,\u201d said Killewald. \u201cAnd in turn, white Americans are benefiting from legacies of advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Most scholars agree that the legacy of slavery and other subsequent forms of legal discrimination against African Americans have hindered their ability to accumulate wealth. \u201cToday\u2019s African American adults and children are living with the legacy of discrimination, inequality, and exclusion, from slavery to redlining and other discriminatory practices,\u201d said Killewald. \u201cAnd in turn, white Americans are benefiting from legacies of advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The typical white American family has roughly 10 times as much wealth as the typical African American family and the typical Latino family. In other words, while the median white household has about $100,000-$200,000 net worth, Blacks and Latinos have $10,000-$20,000 net worth. Depending on the year or how it\u2019s measured, those numbers may change, as shown by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2014\/12\/12\/racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center, but the wealth racial gap has continued for decades<strong>.<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s a staggeringly large number,\u201d said Killewald.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>The typical white American family has roughly 10 times as much wealth as the typical African American family and the typical Latino family. In other words, while the median white household has about $100,000-$200,000 net worth, Blacks and Latinos have $10,000-$20,000 net worth. Depending on the year or how it\u2019s measured, those numbers may change, as shown by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2014\/12\/12\/racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center, but the wealth racial gap has continued for decades<strong>.<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s a staggeringly large number,\u201d said Killewald.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>The typical white American family has roughly 10 times as much wealth as the typical African American family and the typical Latino family. In other words, while the median white household has about $100,000-$200,000 net worth, Blacks and Latinos have $10,000-$20,000 net worth. Depending on the year or how it\u2019s measured, those numbers may change, as shown by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2014\/12\/12\/racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center, but the wealth racial gap has continued for decades<strong>.<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s a staggeringly large number,\u201d said Killewald.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>The typical white American family has roughly 10 times as much wealth as the typical African American family and the typical Latino family. In other words, while the median white household has about $100,000-$200,000 net worth, Blacks and Latinos have $10,000-$20,000 net worth. Depending on the year or how it\u2019s measured, those numbers may change, as shown by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2014\/12\/12\/racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center, but the wealth racial gap has continued for decades<strong>.<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s a staggeringly large number,\u201d said Killewald.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The divide persists across generations, said Killewald, who researched the subject with co-author Fabian Pfeffer of the University of Michigan in an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2378023119831799#bibr5-2378023119831799\">article<\/a>\u00a0that included striking visualizations. <a href=\"https:\/\/viz.theinequalitylab.com\/Animations\/2-wealth-structure.html\">One<\/a>\u00a0of them shows\u00a0that Black parents tend to have much lower wealth than white parents, and that Black\u00a0and white\u00a0children tend to follow the wealth position of their parents, reproducing inequality across generations. The study concludes that \u201ctoday\u2019s black-white gaps in wealth arise from both the historical disadvantage reflected in the unequal starting position of black and white children and contemporary processes, including continued institutionalized discrimination.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>The divide persists across generations, said Killewald, who researched the subject with co-author Fabian Pfeffer of the University of Michigan in an <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2378023119831799#bibr5-2378023119831799\">article<\/a> that included striking visualizations. <a href=\"https:\/\/viz.theinequalitylab.com\/Animations\/2-wealth-structure.html\">One<\/a> of them shows that Black parents tend to have much lower wealth than white parents, and that Black and white children tend to follow the wealth position of their parents, reproducing inequality across generations. The study concludes that \u201ctoday\u2019s black-white gaps in wealth arise from both the historical disadvantage reflected in the unequal starting position of black and white children and contemporary processes, including continued institutionalized discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>The divide persists across generations, said Killewald, who researched the subject with co-author Fabian Pfeffer of the University of Michigan in an <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2378023119831799#bibr5-2378023119831799\">article<\/a> that included striking visualizations. <a href=\"https:\/\/viz.theinequalitylab.com\/Animations\/2-wealth-structure.html\">One<\/a> of them shows that Black parents tend to have much lower wealth than white parents, and that Black and white children tend to follow the wealth position of their parents, reproducing inequality across generations. The study concludes that \u201ctoday\u2019s black-white gaps in wealth arise from both the historical disadvantage reflected in the unequal starting position of black and white children and contemporary processes, including continued institutionalized discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>The divide persists across generations, said Killewald, who researched the subject with co-author Fabian Pfeffer of the University of Michigan in an <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2378023119831799#bibr5-2378023119831799\">article<\/a> that included striking visualizations. <a href=\"https:\/\/viz.theinequalitylab.com\/Animations\/2-wealth-structure.html\">One<\/a> of them shows that Black parents tend to have much lower wealth than white parents, and that Black and white children tend to follow the wealth position of their parents, reproducing inequality across generations. The study concludes that \u201ctoday\u2019s black-white gaps in wealth arise from both the historical disadvantage reflected in the unequal starting position of black and white children and contemporary processes, including continued institutionalized discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textAlign":"","content":"<strong>How inequality affects education <\/strong>","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How inequality affects education <\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How inequality affects education <\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How inequality affects education <\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Many scholars consider education to be the key to narrowing the gap, and economist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/richard-murnane\">Richard Murnane<\/a> is one of them.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Many scholars consider education to be the key to narrowing the gap, and economist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/richard-murnane\">Richard Murnane<\/a> is one of them.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Many scholars consider education to be the key to narrowing the gap, and economist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/richard-murnane\">Richard Murnane<\/a> is one of them.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Many scholars consider education to be the key to narrowing the gap, and economist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/richard-murnane\">Richard Murnane<\/a> is one of them.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"During the last 40 years, Murnane examined the interactions between the U.S. economy and its educational system and the ways in which it has affected the educational opportunities of low-income children, who are disproportionately Black or Latinx.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>During the last 40 years, Murnane examined the interactions between the U.S. economy and its educational system and the ways in which it has affected the educational opportunities of low-income children, who are disproportionately Black or Latinx.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>During the last 40 years, Murnane examined the interactions between the U.S. economy and its educational system and the ways in which it has affected the educational opportunities of low-income children, who are disproportionately Black or Latinx.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>During the last 40 years, Murnane examined the interactions between the U.S. economy and its educational system and the ways in which it has affected the educational opportunities of low-income children, who are disproportionately Black or Latinx.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cThe extraordinary income inequality in the United States diminishes opportunities for low-income families and for children of color,\u201d said Murnane, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Research Professor of Education and Society at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/\">Graduate School of Education<\/a>.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cThe extraordinary income inequality in the United States diminishes opportunities for low-income families and for children of color,\u201d said Murnane, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Research Professor of Education and Society at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/\">Graduate School of Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cThe extraordinary income inequality in the United States diminishes opportunities for low-income families and for children of color,\u201d said Murnane, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Research Professor of Education and Society at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/\">Graduate School of Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cThe extraordinary income inequality in the United States diminishes opportunities for low-income families and for children of color,\u201d said Murnane, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Research Professor of Education and Society at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/\">Graduate School of Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Rising inequality has led to growing gaps in educational resources and learning opportunities between high-income families and their low-income counterparts, as well as residential and educational segregation by income. As a result, inequality poses a danger to the promise that U.S. public education provides children with an equal chance at a better life than their parents.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Rising inequality has led to growing gaps in educational resources and learning opportunities between high-income families and their low-income counterparts, as well as residential and educational segregation by income. As a result, inequality poses a danger to the promise that U.S. public education provides children with an equal chance at a better life than their parents.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Rising inequality has led to growing gaps in educational resources and learning opportunities between high-income families and their low-income counterparts, as well as residential and educational segregation by income. As a result, inequality poses a danger to the promise that U.S. public education provides children with an equal chance at a better life than their parents.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Rising inequality has led to growing gaps in educational resources and learning opportunities between high-income families and their low-income counterparts, as well as residential and educational segregation by income. As a result, inequality poses a danger to the promise that U.S. public education provides children with an equal chance at a better life than their parents.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figure","align":"wide","className":"wp-block-table","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/columns","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","className":"alignwide media-cluster","isStackedOnMobile":true,"templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figcaption","className":"wp-element-caption","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--caption","align":"","content":"Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--credit","align":"","content":"Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">\n\n<\/figcaption>\n","innerContent":["\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">","\n\n","<\/figcaption>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"align":"none","id":328169,"sizeSlug":"full","className":"is-resized","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Raj-Chetty.jpg","alt":"Raj Chetty.","caption":null,"lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Raj-Chetty.jpg\" alt=\"Raj Chetty.\" class=\"wp-image-328169\"\/><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Raj-Chetty.jpg\" alt=\"Raj Chetty.\" class=\"wp-image-328169\"\/><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Raj-Chetty.jpg\" alt=\"Raj Chetty.\" class=\"wp-image-328169\"\/><\/figure>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Raj-Chetty.jpg\" alt=\"Raj Chetty.\" class=\"wp-image-328169\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">","\n\n","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Raj-Chetty.jpg\" alt=\"Raj Chetty.\" class=\"wp-image-328169\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\"><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\">","<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Raj-Chetty.jpg\" alt=\"Raj Chetty.\" class=\"wp-image-328169\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cOne statement that most everybody across the political spectrum agrees with is that if a child grows up poor, but works hard and takes advantage of opportunities, that child\u2019s children will have a better life,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat\u2019s less true now.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cOne statement that most everybody across the political spectrum agrees with is that if a child grows up poor, but works hard and takes advantage of opportunities, that child\u2019s children will have a better life,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat\u2019s less true now.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cOne statement that most everybody across the political spectrum agrees with is that if a child grows up poor, but works hard and takes advantage of opportunities, that child\u2019s children will have a better life,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat\u2019s less true now.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cOne statement that most everybody across the political spectrum agrees with is that if a child grows up poor, but works hard and takes advantage of opportunities, that child\u2019s children will have a better life,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat\u2019s less true now.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"A <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/the-fading-american-dream\/\">study<\/a> on the \u201cfading American dream\u201d co-authored by <a href=\"https:\/\/economics.harvard.edu\/people\/raj-chetty\">Raj Chetty<\/a>, William A. Ackman Professor of Economics, and others concluded that \u201cabsolute mobility \u2014 the fraction of children who earn more than their parents \u2014 has declined sharply in America over the past half century primarily because of the growth in inequality.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/the-fading-american-dream\/\">study<\/a> on the \u201cfading American dream\u201d co-authored by <a href=\"https:\/\/economics.harvard.edu\/people\/raj-chetty\">Raj Chetty<\/a>, William A. Ackman Professor of Economics, and others concluded that \u201cabsolute mobility \u2014 the fraction of children who earn more than their parents \u2014 has declined sharply in America over the past half century primarily because of the growth in inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/the-fading-american-dream\/\">study<\/a> on the \u201cfading American dream\u201d co-authored by <a href=\"https:\/\/economics.harvard.edu\/people\/raj-chetty\">Raj Chetty<\/a>, William A. Ackman Professor of Economics, and others concluded that \u201cabsolute mobility \u2014 the fraction of children who earn more than their parents \u2014 has declined sharply in America over the past half century primarily because of the growth in inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/the-fading-american-dream\/\">study<\/a> on the \u201cfading American dream\u201d co-authored by <a href=\"https:\/\/economics.harvard.edu\/people\/raj-chetty\">Raj Chetty<\/a>, William A. Ackman Professor of Economics, and others concluded that \u201cabsolute mobility \u2014 the fraction of children who earn more than their parents \u2014 has declined sharply in America over the past half century primarily because of the growth in inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Economic mobility rates are lower in the U.S. than in some European countries, and the American dream seems to grow more unreachable as inequality grows. Murnane warns that the government must address the problem as large sectors of the American population sink into despair and frustration.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Economic mobility rates are lower in the U.S. than in some European countries, and the American dream seems to grow more unreachable as inequality grows. Murnane warns that the government must address the problem as large sectors of the American population sink into despair and frustration.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Economic mobility rates are lower in the U.S. than in some European countries, and the American dream seems to grow more unreachable as inequality grows. Murnane warns that the government must address the problem as large sectors of the American population sink into despair and frustration.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Economic mobility rates are lower in the U.S. than in some European countries, and the American dream seems to grow more unreachable as inequality grows. Murnane warns that the government must address the problem as large sectors of the American population sink into despair and frustration.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cA great many people, especially males, have grown up thinking they would take care of their families, and the inability to do that has left them angry, frustrated, and depressed,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat was what they grew up expecting, and that has not been possible for them. That\u2019s a deep challenge to how people feel about themselves. And that\u2019s a fundamental problem.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cA great many people, especially males, have grown up thinking they would take care of their families, and the inability to do that has left them angry, frustrated, and depressed,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat was what they grew up expecting, and that has not been possible for them. That\u2019s a deep challenge to how people feel about themselves. And that\u2019s a fundamental problem.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cA great many people, especially males, have grown up thinking they would take care of their families, and the inability to do that has left them angry, frustrated, and depressed,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat was what they grew up expecting, and that has not been possible for them. That\u2019s a deep challenge to how people feel about themselves. And that\u2019s a fundamental problem.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cA great many people, especially males, have grown up thinking they would take care of their families, and the inability to do that has left them angry, frustrated, and depressed,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat was what they grew up expecting, and that has not been possible for them. That\u2019s a deep challenge to how people feel about themselves. And that\u2019s a fundamental problem.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textAlign":"","content":"<strong>The American dream: Out of reach<\/strong>","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The American dream: Out of reach<\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The American dream: Out of reach<\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The American dream: Out of reach<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Economists <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/goldin\/home\">Claudia Goldin<\/a>, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/lkatz\">Lawrence Katz<\/a>, Elizabeth Allison Professor of Economics, believe that the solution to reducing income inequality, which is strongly tied to the wealth gap, is to close the educational divide.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Economists <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/goldin\/home\">Claudia Goldin<\/a>, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/lkatz\">Lawrence Katz<\/a>, Elizabeth Allison Professor of Economics, believe that the solution to reducing income inequality, which is strongly tied to the wealth gap, is to close the educational divide.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Economists <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/goldin\/home\">Claudia Goldin<\/a>, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/lkatz\">Lawrence Katz<\/a>, Elizabeth Allison Professor of Economics, believe that the solution to reducing income inequality, which is strongly tied to the wealth gap, is to close the educational divide.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Economists <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/goldin\/home\">Claudia Goldin<\/a>, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/lkatz\">Lawrence Katz<\/a>, Elizabeth Allison Professor of Economics, believe that the solution to reducing income inequality, which is strongly tied to the wealth gap, is to close the educational divide.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Goldin and Katz examined wages and income inequality in the U.S. from the end of the 19th century to the early 21st century in their trailblazing book \u201cThe Race Between Education and Technology.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Goldin and Katz examined wages and income inequality in the U.S. from the end of the 19th century to the early 21st century in their trailblazing book \u201cThe Race Between Education and Technology.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Goldin and Katz examined wages and income inequality in the U.S. from the end of the 19th century to the early 21st century in their trailblazing book \u201cThe Race Between Education and Technology.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Goldin and Katz examined wages and income inequality in the U.S. from the end of the 19th century to the early 21st century in their trailblazing book \u201cThe Race Between Education and Technology.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"What they found was that in periods where there was improved access to education amid technological change, as in the early 1900s when public high schools sprouted across the nation amid the Industrial Age, workers\u2019 earnings rose. Inequality began to grow in the 1980s as the economy started to shift toward knowledge-based industries and the supply of highly trained workers fell below demand.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>What they found was that in periods where there was improved access to education amid technological change, as in the early 1900s when public high schools sprouted across the nation amid the Industrial Age, workers\u2019 earnings rose. Inequality began to grow in the 1980s as the economy started to shift toward knowledge-based industries and the supply of highly trained workers fell below demand.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>What they found was that in periods where there was improved access to education amid technological change, as in the early 1900s when public high schools sprouted across the nation amid the Industrial Age, workers\u2019 earnings rose. Inequality began to grow in the 1980s as the economy started to shift toward knowledge-based industries and the supply of highly trained workers fell below demand.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>What they found was that in periods where there was improved access to education amid technological change, as in the early 1900s when public high schools sprouted across the nation amid the Industrial Age, workers\u2019 earnings rose. Inequality began to grow in the 1980s as the economy started to shift toward knowledge-based industries and the supply of highly trained workers fell below demand.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figure","align":"wide","className":"wp-block-table","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/columns","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"bottom","className":"alignwide media-cluster","isStackedOnMobile":true,"templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"bottom","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"align":"none","id":328044,"sizeSlug":"full","className":"is-resized","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Claudia_Goldin.jpg","alt":"Claudia Goldin.","caption":null,"lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Claudia_Goldin.jpg\" alt=\"Claudia Goldin.\" class=\"wp-image-328044\"\/><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Claudia_Goldin.jpg\" alt=\"Claudia Goldin.\" class=\"wp-image-328044\"\/><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Claudia_Goldin.jpg\" alt=\"Claudia Goldin.\" class=\"wp-image-328044\"\/><\/figure>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Claudia_Goldin.jpg\" alt=\"Claudia Goldin.\" class=\"wp-image-328044\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"bottom","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"align":"none","id":328047,"sizeSlug":"full","className":"is-resized","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Larry-Katz.jpg","alt":"Larry Katz.","caption":null,"lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Larry-Katz.jpg\" alt=\"Larry Katz.\" class=\"wp-image-328047\"\/><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Larry-Katz.jpg\" alt=\"Larry Katz.\" class=\"wp-image-328047\"\/><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Larry-Katz.jpg\" alt=\"Larry Katz.\" class=\"wp-image-328047\"\/><\/figure>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Larry-Katz.jpg\" alt=\"Larry Katz.\" class=\"wp-image-328047\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-bottom alignwide media-cluster\">\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-bottom alignwide media-cluster\">","\n\n","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-bottom alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Claudia_Goldin.jpg\" alt=\"Claudia Goldin.\" class=\"wp-image-328044\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Larry-Katz.jpg\" alt=\"Larry Katz.\" class=\"wp-image-328047\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figcaption","className":"wp-element-caption","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--caption","align":"","content":"Expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality, say economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz. ","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality, say economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz. <\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality, say economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz. <\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality, say economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz. <\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--credit","align":"","content":"File photos by Rose Lincoln and Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographers","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">File photos by Rose Lincoln and Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographers<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">File photos by Rose Lincoln and Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographers<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">File photos by Rose Lincoln and Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographers<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">\n\n<\/figcaption>\n","innerContent":["\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">","\n\n","<\/figcaption>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality, say economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">File photos by Rose Lincoln and Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographers<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\">\n\n<\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\">","\n\n","<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-bottom alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Claudia_Goldin.jpg\" alt=\"Claudia Goldin.\" class=\"wp-image-328044\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Larry-Katz.jpg\" alt=\"Larry Katz.\" class=\"wp-image-328047\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality, say economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">File photos by Rose Lincoln and Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographers<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Around that time, the rates of college graduation began to decrease and overall high school graduation numbers leveled off. For Goldin and Katz, expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Around that time, the rates of college graduation began to decrease and overall high school graduation numbers leveled off. For Goldin and Katz, expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Around that time, the rates of college graduation began to decrease and overall high school graduation numbers leveled off. For Goldin and Katz, expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Around that time, the rates of college graduation began to decrease and overall high school graduation numbers leveled off. For Goldin and Katz, expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cYou could wipe out a large fraction of inequality by ramping up the education of individuals who are limited in their ability to access and finish a college education,\u201d said Goldin.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cYou could wipe out a large fraction of inequality by ramping up the education of individuals who are limited in their ability to access and finish a college education,\u201d said Goldin.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cYou could wipe out a large fraction of inequality by ramping up the education of individuals who are limited in their ability to access and finish a college education,\u201d said Goldin.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cYou could wipe out a large fraction of inequality by ramping up the education of individuals who are limited in their ability to access and finish a college education,\u201d said Goldin.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The problem of wealth inequality is more extreme than income inequality since the former builds on the latter, said Katz, and their effects persists across generations. The legacies of the Jim Crow era and racism against Blacks are expressed today in residential segregation, housing discrimination, and discrimination in the labor market.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>The problem of wealth inequality is more extreme than income inequality since the former builds on the latter, said Katz, and their effects persists across generations. The legacies of the Jim Crow era and racism against Blacks are expressed today in residential segregation, housing discrimination, and discrimination in the labor market.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>The problem of wealth inequality is more extreme than income inequality since the former builds on the latter, said Katz, and their effects persists across generations. The legacies of the Jim Crow era and racism against Blacks are expressed today in residential segregation, housing discrimination, and discrimination in the labor market.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>The problem of wealth inequality is more extreme than income inequality since the former builds on the latter, said Katz, and their effects persists across generations. The legacies of the Jim Crow era and racism against Blacks are expressed today in residential segregation, housing discrimination, and discrimination in the labor market.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"For Katz, who has been studying housing discrimination and its effects on upward mobility, public policies can be implemented to reduce residential segregation. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.equality-of-opportunity.org\/images\/mto_exec_summary.pdf\">study<\/a> Katz co-authored with Chetty and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/hendren\/home\">Nathaniel Hendren<\/a>, professor of economics, found that when low-income families move to lower-poverty neighborhoods, with help of housing vouchers and assistance, it is \u201clikely to reduce the persistence of poverty across generations.\u201d Chetty and Hendren, along with John Friedman of Brown University, were the co-founding directors of the Equality of Opportunity Project, now expanded and called Opportunity Insights, based at Harvard.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>For Katz, who has been studying housing discrimination and its effects on upward mobility, public policies can be implemented to reduce residential segregation. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.equality-of-opportunity.org\/images\/mto_exec_summary.pdf\">study<\/a> Katz co-authored with Chetty and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/hendren\/home\">Nathaniel Hendren<\/a>, professor of economics, found that when low-income families move to lower-poverty neighborhoods, with help of housing vouchers and assistance, it is \u201clikely to reduce the persistence of poverty across generations.\u201d Chetty and Hendren, along with John Friedman of Brown University, were the co-founding directors of the Equality of Opportunity Project, now expanded and called Opportunity Insights, based at Harvard.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>For Katz, who has been studying housing discrimination and its effects on upward mobility, public policies can be implemented to reduce residential segregation. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.equality-of-opportunity.org\/images\/mto_exec_summary.pdf\">study<\/a> Katz co-authored with Chetty and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/hendren\/home\">Nathaniel Hendren<\/a>, professor of economics, found that when low-income families move to lower-poverty neighborhoods, with help of housing vouchers and assistance, it is \u201clikely to reduce the persistence of poverty across generations.\u201d Chetty and Hendren, along with John Friedman of Brown University, were the co-founding directors of the Equality of Opportunity Project, now expanded and called Opportunity Insights, based at Harvard.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>For Katz, who has been studying housing discrimination and its effects on upward mobility, public policies can be implemented to reduce residential segregation. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.equality-of-opportunity.org\/images\/mto_exec_summary.pdf\">study<\/a> Katz co-authored with Chetty and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/hendren\/home\">Nathaniel Hendren<\/a>, professor of economics, found that when low-income families move to lower-poverty neighborhoods, with help of housing vouchers and assistance, it is \u201clikely to reduce the persistence of poverty across generations.\u201d Chetty and Hendren, along with John Friedman of Brown University, were the co-founding directors of the Equality of Opportunity Project, now expanded and called Opportunity Insights, based at Harvard.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Growing inequality is spoiling the chances to have a better life than the previous generation. Recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epi.org\/blog\/top-1-0-percent-reaches-highest-wages-ever-up-157-percent-since-1979\/\">numbers<\/a> show that the top 1 percent has seen their wages grow by 157 percent over the last four decades, while the wages of the bottom 90 percent grew by only 24 percent.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Growing inequality is spoiling the chances to have a better life than the previous generation. Recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epi.org\/blog\/top-1-0-percent-reaches-highest-wages-ever-up-157-percent-since-1979\/\">numbers<\/a> show that the top 1 percent has seen their wages grow by 157 percent over the last four decades, while the wages of the bottom 90 percent grew by only 24 percent.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Growing inequality is spoiling the chances to have a better life than the previous generation. Recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epi.org\/blog\/top-1-0-percent-reaches-highest-wages-ever-up-157-percent-since-1979\/\">numbers<\/a> show that the top 1 percent has seen their wages grow by 157 percent over the last four decades, while the wages of the bottom 90 percent grew by only 24 percent.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Growing inequality is spoiling the chances to have a better life than the previous generation. Recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epi.org\/blog\/top-1-0-percent-reaches-highest-wages-ever-up-157-percent-since-1979\/\">numbers<\/a> show that the top 1 percent has seen their wages grow by 157 percent over the last four decades, while the wages of the bottom 90 percent grew by only 24 percent.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Inequality is one of the factors keeping the American dream out of reach, said Goldin.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Inequality is one of the factors keeping the American dream out of reach, said Goldin.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Inequality is one of the factors keeping the American dream out of reach, said Goldin.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Inequality is one of the factors keeping the American dream out of reach, said Goldin.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cThe American dream has sort of shifted from one in which the economic growth of the nation was shared more across the income distribution, where the growth rate of the income of those at the bottom quartile was about the same, if not more, than the growth at the top quartile,\u201d said Goldin. \u201cAnd today it\u2019s not that way at all: the bottom quartile isn\u2019t going anywhere and the top is going rapidly up.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cThe American dream has sort of shifted from one in which the economic growth of the nation was shared more across the income distribution, where the growth rate of the income of those at the bottom quartile was about the same, if not more, than the growth at the top quartile,\u201d said Goldin. \u201cAnd today it\u2019s not that way at all: the bottom quartile isn\u2019t going anywhere and the top is going rapidly up.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cThe American dream has sort of shifted from one in which the economic growth of the nation was shared more across the income distribution, where the growth rate of the income of those at the bottom quartile was about the same, if not more, than the growth at the top quartile,\u201d said Goldin. \u201cAnd today it\u2019s not that way at all: the bottom quartile isn\u2019t going anywhere and the top is going rapidly up.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cThe American dream has sort of shifted from one in which the economic growth of the nation was shared more across the income distribution, where the growth rate of the income of those at the bottom quartile was about the same, if not more, than the growth at the top quartile,\u201d said Goldin. \u201cAnd today it\u2019s not that way at all: the bottom quartile isn\u2019t going anywhere and the top is going rapidly up.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"To keep the American dream alive and return to the era of shared prosperity, the government must act, said Katz. Both Goldin and Katz believe that an expansion of investment in higher education infrastructure and access to a high-quality college education would have a powerful impact in the lives of many Americans. It could be similar to the effects of the high school movement, which lifted millions of American families out of poverty during the first half of the 20th century.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>To keep the American dream alive and return to the era of shared prosperity, the government must act, said Katz. Both Goldin and Katz believe that an expansion of investment in higher education infrastructure and access to a high-quality college education would have a powerful impact in the lives of many Americans. It could be similar to the effects of the high school movement, which lifted millions of American families out of poverty during the first half of the 20th century.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>To keep the American dream alive and return to the era of shared prosperity, the government must act, said Katz. Both Goldin and Katz believe that an expansion of investment in higher education infrastructure and access to a high-quality college education would have a powerful impact in the lives of many Americans. It could be similar to the effects of the high school movement, which lifted millions of American families out of poverty during the first half of the 20th century.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>To keep the American dream alive and return to the era of shared prosperity, the government must act, said Katz. Both Goldin and Katz believe that an expansion of investment in higher education infrastructure and access to a high-quality college education would have a powerful impact in the lives of many Americans. It could be similar to the effects of the high school movement, which lifted millions of American families out of poverty during the first half of the 20th century.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cIn the early 20th century, we allowed everyone access to high school,\u201d said Katz. \u201cWe have never done that for college, even though college is as essential today as high school was 100 years ago.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cIn the early 20th century, we allowed everyone access to high school,\u201d said Katz. \u201cWe have never done that for college, even though college is as essential today as high school was 100 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cIn the early 20th century, we allowed everyone access to high school,\u201d said Katz. \u201cWe have never done that for college, even though college is as essential today as high school was 100 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cIn the early 20th century, we allowed everyone access to high school,\u201d said Katz. \u201cWe have never done that for college, even though college is as essential today as high school was 100 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textAlign":"","content":"<strong>Additional benefits of higher education<\/strong>","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Additional benefits of higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Additional benefits of higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Additional benefits of higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The economic returns of a college degree are important, but the social returns are also valuable, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/anthony-jack\">Anthony Jack<\/a>, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>The economic returns of a college degree are important, but the social returns are also valuable, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/anthony-jack\">Anthony Jack<\/a>, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>The economic returns of a college degree are important, but the social returns are also valuable, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/anthony-jack\">Anthony Jack<\/a>, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>The economic returns of a college degree are important, but the social returns are also valuable, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/anthony-jack\">Anthony Jack<\/a>, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cWorkers who are more educated tend to be in jobs that are more recession- and pandemic- proof,\u201d said Jack, who also holds the Shutzer Assistant Professorships at the Radcliffe Institute. \u201cThey also tend to live longer, have better health outcomes, and be more civically engaged. Education means more than just extra dollars in the bank. It\u2019s also the constellation of things that come along with it.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cWorkers who are more educated tend to be in jobs that are more recession- and pandemic- proof,\u201d said Jack, who also holds the Shutzer Assistant Professorships at the Radcliffe Institute. \u201cThey also tend to live longer, have better health outcomes, and be more civically engaged. Education means more than just extra dollars in the bank. It\u2019s also the constellation of things that come along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cWorkers who are more educated tend to be in jobs that are more recession- and pandemic- proof,\u201d said Jack, who also holds the Shutzer Assistant Professorships at the Radcliffe Institute. \u201cThey also tend to live longer, have better health outcomes, and be more civically engaged. Education means more than just extra dollars in the bank. It\u2019s also the constellation of things that come along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cWorkers who are more educated tend to be in jobs that are more recession- and pandemic- proof,\u201d said Jack, who also holds the Shutzer Assistant Professorships at the Radcliffe Institute. \u201cThey also tend to live longer, have better health outcomes, and be more civically engaged. Education means more than just extra dollars in the bank. It\u2019s also the constellation of things that come along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"But the road to college has become increasingly harder, especially for low-income people, even though access to college for disadvantaged students has increased over the past two decades. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/social-trends\/2019\/05\/22\/a-rising-share-of-undergraduates-are-from-poor-families-especially-at-less-selective-colleges\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center found that the number of enrolled undergraduates from lower-income backgrounds grew from 12 percent in 1996 to 20 percent in 2016. Most of that growth has taken place in public two-year colleges and less-selective institutions.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>But the road to college has become increasingly harder, especially for low-income people, even though access to college for disadvantaged students has increased over the past two decades. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/social-trends\/2019\/05\/22\/a-rising-share-of-undergraduates-are-from-poor-families-especially-at-less-selective-colleges\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center found that the number of enrolled undergraduates from lower-income backgrounds grew from 12 percent in 1996 to 20 percent in 2016. Most of that growth has taken place in public two-year colleges and less-selective institutions.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>But the road to college has become increasingly harder, especially for low-income people, even though access to college for disadvantaged students has increased over the past two decades. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/social-trends\/2019\/05\/22\/a-rising-share-of-undergraduates-are-from-poor-families-especially-at-less-selective-colleges\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center found that the number of enrolled undergraduates from lower-income backgrounds grew from 12 percent in 1996 to 20 percent in 2016. Most of that growth has taken place in public two-year colleges and less-selective institutions.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>But the road to college has become increasingly harder, especially for low-income people, even though access to college for disadvantaged students has increased over the past two decades. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/social-trends\/2019\/05\/22\/a-rising-share-of-undergraduates-are-from-poor-families-especially-at-less-selective-colleges\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center found that the number of enrolled undergraduates from lower-income backgrounds grew from 12 percent in 1996 to 20 percent in 2016. Most of that growth has taken place in public two-year colleges and less-selective institutions.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figure","align":"wide","className":"wp-block-table","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/columns","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","className":"alignwide media-cluster","isStackedOnMobile":true,"templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figcaption","className":"wp-element-caption","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--caption","align":"","content":"\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. ","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. <\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. <\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. <\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--credit","align":"","content":"Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">\n\n<\/figcaption>\n","innerContent":["\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">","\n\n","<\/figcaption>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"align":"none","id":328043,"sizeSlug":"full","className":"is-resized","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jack_Tony_portrait.jpg","alt":"Anthony Jack.","caption":null,"lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jack_Tony_portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Anthony Jack.\" class=\"wp-image-328043\"\/><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jack_Tony_portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Anthony Jack.\" class=\"wp-image-328043\"\/><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jack_Tony_portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Anthony Jack.\" class=\"wp-image-328043\"\/><\/figure>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jack_Tony_portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Anthony Jack.\" class=\"wp-image-328043\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">","\n\n","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jack_Tony_portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Anthony Jack.\" class=\"wp-image-328043\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\"><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\">","<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jack_Tony_portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Anthony Jack.\" class=\"wp-image-328043\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Selective universities have also opened their gates to poor students, however. In 1998, Princeton became the first Ivy League university to offer full financial aid to low-income students, and others followed suit. At Harvard, 55 percent of undergraduates receive need-based scholarships, and the 20 percent of Harvard parents who have total incomes below $65,000 don\u2019t pay anything at all.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Selective universities have also opened their gates to poor students, however. In 1998, Princeton became the first Ivy League university to offer full financial aid to low-income students, and others followed suit. At Harvard, 55 percent of undergraduates receive need-based scholarships, and the 20 percent of Harvard parents who have total incomes below $65,000 don\u2019t pay anything at all.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Selective universities have also opened their gates to poor students, however. In 1998, Princeton became the first Ivy League university to offer full financial aid to low-income students, and others followed suit. At Harvard, 55 percent of undergraduates receive need-based scholarships, and the 20 percent of Harvard parents who have total incomes below $65,000 don\u2019t pay anything at all.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Selective universities have also opened their gates to poor students, however. In 1998, Princeton became the first Ivy League university to offer full financial aid to low-income students, and others followed suit. At Harvard, 55 percent of undergraduates receive need-based scholarships, and the 20 percent of Harvard parents who have total incomes below $65,000 don\u2019t pay anything at all.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Still, access to college \u201cvaries greatly by parent income,\u201d according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/mobilityreportcards\/\">study<\/a> by Opportunity Insights. Children with parents in the top 1 percent are 77 times more likely to attend elite colleges and universities than children with parents in the bottom 20 percent.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Still, access to college \u201cvaries greatly by parent income,\u201d according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/mobilityreportcards\/\">study<\/a> by Opportunity Insights. Children with parents in the top 1 percent are 77 times more likely to attend elite colleges and universities than children with parents in the bottom 20 percent.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Still, access to college \u201cvaries greatly by parent income,\u201d according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/mobilityreportcards\/\">study<\/a> by Opportunity Insights. Children with parents in the top 1 percent are 77 times more likely to attend elite colleges and universities than children with parents in the bottom 20 percent.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Still, access to college \u201cvaries greatly by parent income,\u201d according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/mobilityreportcards\/\">study<\/a> by Opportunity Insights. Children with parents in the top 1 percent are 77 times more likely to attend elite colleges and universities than children with parents in the bottom 20 percent.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"To Jack, those numbers showcase that access to college is highly unequal and is influenced by income, race, wealth, and ZIP code. \u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d he said. \u201cHigher education is highly stratified. The wealthier the family, the higher the likelihood that students will enter a selective college. The inequality doesn\u2019t end there. What happens if you are one of the few low-income students who make it into these elite schools?\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>To Jack, those numbers showcase that access to college is highly unequal and is influenced by income, race, wealth, and ZIP code. \u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d he said. \u201cHigher education is highly stratified. The wealthier the family, the higher the likelihood that students will enter a selective college. The inequality doesn\u2019t end there. What happens if you are one of the few low-income students who make it into these elite schools?\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>To Jack, those numbers showcase that access to college is highly unequal and is influenced by income, race, wealth, and ZIP code. \u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d he said. \u201cHigher education is highly stratified. The wealthier the family, the higher the likelihood that students will enter a selective college. The inequality doesn\u2019t end there. What happens if you are one of the few low-income students who make it into these elite schools?\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>To Jack, those numbers showcase that access to college is highly unequal and is influenced by income, race, wealth, and ZIP code. \u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d he said. \u201cHigher education is highly stratified. The wealthier the family, the higher the likelihood that students will enter a selective college. The inequality doesn\u2019t end there. What happens if you are one of the few low-income students who make it into these elite schools?\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"For Jack, that is not a rhetorical question. The middle son of a single mother who worked as a school security guard, Jack rose from a working-class neighborhood in Coconut Grove, Fla., to attend Amherst College, with the help of financial aid. He then came to Harvard, where he graduated with a doctorate in sociology in 2016. Two years later, Jack wrote the book \u201cThe Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students\u201d about what it\u2019s like to be a low-income student in selective universities, partly inspired by his own life.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>For Jack, that is not a rhetorical question. The middle son of a single mother who worked as a school security guard, Jack rose from a working-class neighborhood in Coconut Grove, Fla., to attend Amherst College, with the help of financial aid. He then came to Harvard, where he graduated with a doctorate in sociology in 2016. Two years later, Jack wrote the book \u201cThe Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students\u201d about what it\u2019s like to be a low-income student in selective universities, partly inspired by his own life.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>For Jack, that is not a rhetorical question. The middle son of a single mother who worked as a school security guard, Jack rose from a working-class neighborhood in Coconut Grove, Fla., to attend Amherst College, with the help of financial aid. He then came to Harvard, where he graduated with a doctorate in sociology in 2016. Two years later, Jack wrote the book \u201cThe Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students\u201d about what it\u2019s like to be a low-income student in selective universities, partly inspired by his own life.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>For Jack, that is not a rhetorical question. The middle son of a single mother who worked as a school security guard, Jack rose from a working-class neighborhood in Coconut Grove, Fla., to attend Amherst College, with the help of financial aid. He then came to Harvard, where he graduated with a doctorate in sociology in 2016. Two years later, Jack wrote the book \u201cThe Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students\u201d about what it\u2019s like to be a low-income student in selective universities, partly inspired by his own life.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Elite universities have made progress in recruiting more low-income students to their campuses, but there is much more work to be done to ensure that those students use their four years there as a springboard to a better future the same way their richer counterparts do, said Jack.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Elite universities have made progress in recruiting more low-income students to their campuses, but there is much more work to be done to ensure that those students use their four years there as a springboard to a better future the same way their richer counterparts do, said Jack.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Elite universities have made progress in recruiting more low-income students to their campuses, but there is much more work to be done to ensure that those students use their four years there as a springboard to a better future the same way their richer counterparts do, said Jack.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Elite universities have made progress in recruiting more low-income students to their campuses, but there is much more work to be done to ensure that those students use their four years there as a springboard to a better future the same way their richer counterparts do, said Jack.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cThe real question is not only how to increase access to colleges and universities,\u201d said Jack. \u201cWe must pay attention to what happens once those low-income students move into campus, because that\u2019s where inequality gets reproduced in ways that are sometimes invisible but no less insidious.\u201d<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cThe real question is not only how to increase access to colleges and universities,\u201d said Jack. \u201cWe must pay attention to what happens once those low-income students move into campus, because that\u2019s where inequality gets reproduced in ways that are sometimes invisible but no less insidious.\u201d<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cThe real question is not only how to increase access to colleges and universities,\u201d said Jack. \u201cWe must pay attention to what happens once those low-income students move into campus, because that\u2019s where inequality gets reproduced in ways that are sometimes invisible but no less insidious.\u201d<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cThe real question is not only how to increase access to colleges and universities,\u201d said Jack. \u201cWe must pay attention to what happens once those low-income students move into campus, because that\u2019s where inequality gets reproduced in ways that are sometimes invisible but no less insidious.\u201d<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/heading","attrs":{"textAlign":"","content":"<strong>A Marshall Plan for higher education<\/strong>","level":2,"levelOptions":[],"placeholder":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Marshall Plan for higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n","innerContent":["\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Marshall Plan for higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n"],"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Marshall Plan for higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>So if greater access to public higher education would help close the wealth gap, what we need is a kind of Marshall Plan to fix the system, says economist <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/ddeming\/home\">David J. Deming<\/a>, professor of public policy and director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/centers\/wiener\">Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Kennedy School<\/a>.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p><strong> <\/strong>So if greater access to public higher education would help close the wealth gap, what we need is a kind of Marshall Plan to fix the system, says economist <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/ddeming\/home\">David J. Deming<\/a>, professor of public policy and director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/centers\/wiener\">Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Kennedy School<\/a>.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p><strong> <\/strong>So if greater access to public higher education would help close the wealth gap, what we need is a kind of Marshall Plan to fix the system, says economist <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/ddeming\/home\">David J. Deming<\/a>, professor of public policy and director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/centers\/wiener\">Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Kennedy School<\/a>.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p><strong> <\/strong>So if greater access to public higher education would help close the wealth gap, what we need is a kind of Marshall Plan to fix the system, says economist <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/ddeming\/home\">David J. Deming<\/a>, professor of public policy and director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/centers\/wiener\">Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Kennedy School<\/a>.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"That U.S. government initiative helped rebuild infrastructure and economy in Europe after the destruction of World War II. Deming\u2019s ambitious proposal would likewise focus resources on overhauling and expanding the size and number of two- and four-year public institutions, with a goal of making access to college virtually universal.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>That U.S. government initiative helped rebuild infrastructure and economy in Europe after the destruction of World War II. Deming\u2019s ambitious proposal would likewise focus resources on overhauling and expanding the size and number of two- and four-year public institutions, with a goal of making access to college virtually universal.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>That U.S. government initiative helped rebuild infrastructure and economy in Europe after the destruction of World War II. Deming\u2019s ambitious proposal would likewise focus resources on overhauling and expanding the size and number of two- and four-year public institutions, with a goal of making access to college virtually universal.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>That U.S. government initiative helped rebuild infrastructure and economy in Europe after the destruction of World War II. Deming\u2019s ambitious proposal would likewise focus resources on overhauling and expanding the size and number of two- and four-year public institutions, with a goal of making access to college virtually universal.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cWe ought to set a goal of increasing access to higher education for low-income students and students of color, to basically equalize education opportunity,\u201d said Deming. \u201cWe need to invest in public higher education because it actually would make a difference in terms of intergenerational mobility.\u201d","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cWe ought to set a goal of increasing access to higher education for low-income students and students of color, to basically equalize education opportunity,\u201d said Deming. \u201cWe need to invest in public higher education because it actually would make a difference in terms of intergenerational mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cWe ought to set a goal of increasing access to higher education for low-income students and students of color, to basically equalize education opportunity,\u201d said Deming. \u201cWe need to invest in public higher education because it actually would make a difference in terms of intergenerational mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cWe ought to set a goal of increasing access to higher education for low-income students and students of color, to basically equalize education opportunity,\u201d said Deming. \u201cWe need to invest in public higher education because it actually would make a difference in terms of intergenerational mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"For one, public higher education is where most of the nation\u2019s post-secondary schooling takes place. A <a href=\"https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/programs\/digest\/d19\/tables\/dt19_105.30.asp\">report<\/a> by the National Center for Education Statistics found that of the 19.7 million college students enrolled in the fall of 2019, 14.5 million attended public colleges and universities compared with 5.1 million enrolled in private institutions.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>For one, public higher education is where most of the nation\u2019s post-secondary schooling takes place. A <a href=\"https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/programs\/digest\/d19\/tables\/dt19_105.30.asp\">report<\/a> by the National Center for Education Statistics found that of the 19.7 million college students enrolled in the fall of 2019, 14.5 million attended public colleges and universities compared with 5.1 million enrolled in private institutions.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>For one, public higher education is where most of the nation\u2019s post-secondary schooling takes place. A <a href=\"https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/programs\/digest\/d19\/tables\/dt19_105.30.asp\">report<\/a> by the National Center for Education Statistics found that of the 19.7 million college students enrolled in the fall of 2019, 14.5 million attended public colleges and universities compared with 5.1 million enrolled in private institutions.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>For one, public higher education is where most of the nation\u2019s post-secondary schooling takes place. A <a href=\"https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/programs\/digest\/d19\/tables\/dt19_105.30.asp\">report<\/a> by the National Center for Education Statistics found that of the 19.7 million college students enrolled in the fall of 2019, 14.5 million attended public colleges and universities compared with 5.1 million enrolled in private institutions.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figure","align":"wide","className":"wp-block-table","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/columns","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","className":"alignwide media-cluster","isStackedOnMobile":true,"templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"tagName":"figcaption","className":"wp-element-caption","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--caption","align":"","content":"David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"className":"wp-element-caption--credit","align":"","content":"Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">\n\n<\/figcaption>\n","innerContent":["\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption\">","\n\n","<\/figcaption>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/column","attrs":{"verticalAlignment":"top","width":"","templateLock":null,"lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"align":"none","id":328048,"sizeSlug":"full","className":"is-resized","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Deming.jpg","alt":"David Deming.","caption":null,"lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Deming.jpg\" alt=\"David Deming.\" class=\"wp-image-328048\"\/><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Deming.jpg\" alt=\"David Deming.\" class=\"wp-image-328048\"\/><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Deming.jpg\" alt=\"David Deming.\" class=\"wp-image-328048\"\/><\/figure>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\">","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Deming.jpg\" alt=\"David Deming.\" class=\"wp-image-328048\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster\">","\n\n","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Deming.jpg\" alt=\"David Deming.\" class=\"wp-image-328048\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\"><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table\">","<\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Deming.jpg\" alt=\"David Deming.\" class=\"wp-image-328048\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"The number of students enrolled in post-secondary education has skyrocketed over the past five decades. The report predicted that by the fall of 2029, more than 20 million students will be enrolled in college. Of them, nearly 15 million will attend public institutions.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>The number of students enrolled in post-secondary education has skyrocketed over the past five decades. The report predicted that by the fall of 2029, more than 20 million students will be enrolled in college. Of them, nearly 15 million will attend public institutions.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>The number of students enrolled in post-secondary education has skyrocketed over the past five decades. The report predicted that by the fall of 2029, more than 20 million students will be enrolled in college. Of them, nearly 15 million will attend public institutions.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>The number of students enrolled in post-secondary education has skyrocketed over the past five decades. The report predicted that by the fall of 2029, more than 20 million students will be enrolled in college. Of them, nearly 15 million will attend public institutions.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Deming\u2019s vision would involve far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities, many of which have been historically underfunded and understaffed. Instructors are often adjunct faculty who teach large classes and have high course loads, and many institutions lack tutoring and counseling services to help less-prepared students navigate through college.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Deming\u2019s vision would involve far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities, many of which have been historically underfunded and understaffed. Instructors are often adjunct faculty who teach large classes and have high course loads, and many institutions lack tutoring and counseling services to help less-prepared students navigate through college.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Deming\u2019s vision would involve far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities, many of which have been historically underfunded and understaffed. Instructors are often adjunct faculty who teach large classes and have high course loads, and many institutions lack tutoring and counseling services to help less-prepared students navigate through college.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Deming\u2019s vision would involve far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities, many of which have been historically underfunded and understaffed. Instructors are often adjunct faculty who teach large classes and have high course loads, and many institutions lack tutoring and counseling services to help less-prepared students navigate through college.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"In terms of investment per student, the scale of inequality in resources is much greater in higher education than it is at the K-12 level. As an example, Deming points out that a rich school district might spend 20 percent more per student than a poor school district, whereas Harvard spends more than $100,000 per year per student, and Bunker Hill Community College spends about $10,000 or $15,000 per year per student.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>In terms of investment per student, the scale of inequality in resources is much greater in higher education than it is at the K-12 level. As an example, Deming points out that a rich school district might spend 20 percent more per student than a poor school district, whereas Harvard spends more than $100,000 per year per student, and Bunker Hill Community College spends about $10,000 or $15,000 per year per student.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>In terms of investment per student, the scale of inequality in resources is much greater in higher education than it is at the K-12 level. As an example, Deming points out that a rich school district might spend 20 percent more per student than a poor school district, whereas Harvard spends more than $100,000 per year per student, and Bunker Hill Community College spends about $10,000 or $15,000 per year per student.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>In terms of investment per student, the scale of inequality in resources is much greater in higher education than it is at the K-12 level. As an example, Deming points out that a rich school district might spend 20 percent more per student than a poor school district, whereas Harvard spends more than $100,000 per year per student, and Bunker Hill Community College spends about $10,000 or $15,000 per year per student.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"\u201cJust purely in terms of dollars and cents, the disparity is much, much greater at the higher education level,\u201d said Deming.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cJust purely in terms of dollars and cents, the disparity is much, much greater at the higher education level,\u201d said Deming.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cJust purely in terms of dollars and cents, the disparity is much, much greater at the higher education level,\u201d said Deming.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cJust purely in terms of dollars and cents, the disparity is much, much greater at the higher education level,\u201d said Deming.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":{"align":"","content":"Investing in higher public education won\u2019t solve all the myriad problems that affect inequality, such as the declining minimum wage and discrimination in the labor market, among others. But it would be a big first step, he said.","dropCap":false,"placeholder":"","direction":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Investing in higher public education won\u2019t solve all the myriad problems that affect inequality, such as the declining minimum wage and discrimination in the labor market, among others. But it would be a big first step, he said.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Investing in higher public education won\u2019t solve all the myriad problems that affect inequality, such as the declining minimum wage and discrimination in the labor market, among others. But it would be a big first step, he said.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Investing in higher public education won\u2019t solve all the myriad problems that affect inequality, such as the declining minimum wage and discrimination in the labor market, among others. But it would be a big first step, he said.<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","\n\n","<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-supporting-content alignleft supporting-content\" id=\"supporting-content-e3214b28-85c1-4311-b2f1-edb0e5504bde\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020_02_17_Unequal_Series_Mark_square2.png\" alt=\"badge\" style=\"width:212px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harvard.edu\/in-focus\/unequal\/\"><em>\u201cUnequal\u201d<\/em><\/a><em> is a series highlighting the work of Harvard faculty, staff, students, alumni, and researchers on issues of race and inequality across the U.S. This part looks at the racial wealth gap in America.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The wealth gap between Black and white Americans has been persistent and extreme. It represents, scholars say, the accumulated effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism and bears major responsibility for disparities in income, health, education, and opportunity that continue to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider that right now the net wealth of a typical Black family in America is around one-tenth that of a white family. A 2018 analysis of U.S. incomes and wealth written by economists Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick, and Ulrike I. Steins and published by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.minneapolisfed.org\/research\/institute-working-papers\/income-and-wealth-inequality-in-america-1949-2016\">Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis<\/a> concluded, \u201cThe historical data also reveal that no progress has been made in reducing income and wealth inequalities between black and white households over the past 70 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise. After the end of slavery and the failed Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, which existed till the late 1960s, virtually ensured that Black Americans in the South would not be able to accumulate or to pass on wealth. And through the Great Migration and after, African Americans faced employment, housing, and educational discrimination across the country. After World War II many white veterans were able to take advantage of programs like the GI Bill to buy homes \u2014 the largest asset held by most American families \u2014 with low-interest loans, but lenders often unfairly turned down Black applicants, shutting those vets out of the benefit. (As of the end of 2020 the homeownership rate for Black families stood at about 44 percent, compared with 75 percent for white families, according to the Census Bureau.) Redlining \u2014 typically the systemic denial of loans or insurance in predominantly minority areas \u2014 held down property values and hampered African American families\u2019 ability to live where they chose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2020 pandemic and its economic fallout had a disproportionate toll on people of color, and many expect that it will widen the gap in various areas, including wealth. At Harvard, experts from different disciplines are studying the problem to find its roots and possible ways to level the playing field to ensure all have an equal chance to achieve the American dream. Here we will take a look at a few, several of which focus on education as a long-term path out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-history-older-than-the-nation\"><strong>A history older than the nation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/faculty\/khalil-muhammad\">Khalil Muhammad<\/a>, Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, traces the roots of disparity to the Colonial period, when the European settlement and conquest of North America took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The process began in the second half of the 17th century, said Muhammad, when European settlers stripped Natives of their lands and used Africans as enslaved labor, preventing them from fully participating in the economy and reaping the fruits of their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d says Khalil Muhammad of the Kennedy School and Harvard Radcliffe Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Photo by Martha Stewart<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Faculty_Muhammad_Khalil_MS041_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Muhammad Khalil.\" class=\"wp-image-328170\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe two dominant non-European populations, Indigenous and Africans, were subjected to various coercive forms of labor that would be distinct from the experience of indentured European servants,\u201d said Muhammad, who is also the Suzanne Young Murray Professor at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radcliffe.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Radcliffe Institute<\/a>. \u201cAnd as such, racism became an economic imperative to harness land and labor for the purpose of wealth creation, and that did not change in any substantial way until really about the 1960s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact the founders discovered that the issues of Black slavery and equality were so divisive that they opted to kick the can down the road, hoping some future generation would prove wiser or better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans finally gained full citizenship. Many believed that would end the era of Black inequality, but it did not, said Muhammad, because that thinking failed to account for how deeply systemic the problem had become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such misconceptions have tended to make it difficult to gain widespread public support for the implementation of policies to close the disparities between Blacks and whites. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to institutionalize anti-racist practices and policies in civil society and government, said Muhammad, as well to better enforce anti-discrimination laws and investment in schools in low-income neighborhoods. But he also believes a \u201cmassive commitment to anti-bias education\u201d starting in kindergarten is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf we want to undo the cultural infrastructure that is hand in glove with the economic and political racism and domination of people, we have to start very young,\u201d said Muhammad. \u201cAnti-bias education is a social vaccine to vaccinate our children against the disease of racism. Imagine what the world would look like in a generation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A legacy that benefits some and hurts others<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past decades, many scholars have examined the Black-white gap in household wealth. But it was in 1995 that sociologists Thomas Shapiro and Melvin Oliver put wealth inequality on the map with their groundbreaking book, \u201cBlack Wealth, White Wealth.\u201d Their research analyzed the role of wealth, or accumulated assets, rather than that of income in the persistent racial divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cWealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing greater opportunity in the present and the future, says Alexandra Killewald, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer <\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/042221_Killewald_006_2500.jpg\" alt=\"Alexandra Killewald.\" class=\"wp-image-328286\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIncome is unequal, but wealth is even more unequal,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/akillewald\/home\">Alexandra Killewald<\/a>, professor of sociology in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fas.harvard.edu\/\">Faculty of Art and Sciences<\/a>, who studies inequality in the contemporary U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou can think of income as<strong> <\/strong>water flowing into your bathtub, whereas wealth is like the water that\u2019s sitting in the bathtub,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have wealth, it can protect you if you lose your job or your house. Wealth is distinctive because it can be used as a cushion, and it can be directly passed down across generations,\u201d providing families more choices and greater opportunity in the present and the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most scholars agree that the legacy of slavery and other subsequent forms of legal discrimination against African Americans have hindered their ability to accumulate wealth. \u201cToday\u2019s African American adults and children are living with the legacy of discrimination, inequality, and exclusion, from slavery to redlining and other discriminatory practices,\u201d said Killewald. \u201cAnd in turn, white Americans are benefiting from legacies of advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The typical white American family has roughly 10 times as much wealth as the typical African American family and the typical Latino family. In other words, while the median white household has about $100,000-$200,000 net worth, Blacks and Latinos have $10,000-$20,000 net worth. Depending on the year or how it\u2019s measured, those numbers may change, as shown by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2014\/12\/12\/racial-wealth-gaps-great-recession\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center, but the wealth racial gap has continued for decades<strong>.<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s a staggeringly large number,\u201d said Killewald.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The divide persists across generations, said Killewald, who researched the subject with co-author Fabian Pfeffer of the University of Michigan in an <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2378023119831799#bibr5-2378023119831799\">article<\/a> that included striking visualizations. <a href=\"https:\/\/viz.theinequalitylab.com\/Animations\/2-wealth-structure.html\">One<\/a> of them shows that Black parents tend to have much lower wealth than white parents, and that Black and white children tend to follow the wealth position of their parents, reproducing inequality across generations. The study concludes that \u201ctoday\u2019s black-white gaps in wealth arise from both the historical disadvantage reflected in the unequal starting position of black and white children and contemporary processes, including continued institutionalized discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How inequality affects education <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many scholars consider education to be the key to narrowing the gap, and economist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/richard-murnane\">Richard Murnane<\/a> is one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the last 40 years, Murnane examined the interactions between the U.S. economy and its educational system and the ways in which it has affected the educational opportunities of low-income children, who are disproportionately Black or Latinx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe extraordinary income inequality in the United States diminishes opportunities for low-income families and for children of color,\u201d said Murnane, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Research Professor of Education and Society at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/\">Graduate School of Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rising inequality has led to growing gaps in educational resources and learning opportunities between high-income families and their low-income counterparts, as well as residential and educational segregation by income. As a result, inequality poses a danger to the promise that U.S. public education provides children with an equal chance at a better life than their parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Unequal distribution of economic growth has played a major role in why children who earn more than their parents has declined sharply in America over the past half century, says Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and co-author of the study \u201cThe Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Raj-Chetty.jpg\" alt=\"Raj Chetty.\" class=\"wp-image-328169\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne statement that most everybody across the political spectrum agrees with is that if a child grows up poor, but works hard and takes advantage of opportunities, that child\u2019s children will have a better life,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat\u2019s less true now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/the-fading-american-dream\/\">study<\/a> on the \u201cfading American dream\u201d co-authored by <a href=\"https:\/\/economics.harvard.edu\/people\/raj-chetty\">Raj Chetty<\/a>, William A. Ackman Professor of Economics, and others concluded that \u201cabsolute mobility \u2014 the fraction of children who earn more than their parents \u2014 has declined sharply in America over the past half century primarily because of the growth in inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Economic mobility rates are lower in the U.S. than in some European countries, and the American dream seems to grow more unreachable as inequality grows. Murnane warns that the government must address the problem as large sectors of the American population sink into despair and frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA great many people, especially males, have grown up thinking they would take care of their families, and the inability to do that has left them angry, frustrated, and depressed,\u201d said Murnane. \u201cThat was what they grew up expecting, and that has not been possible for them. That\u2019s a deep challenge to how people feel about themselves. And that\u2019s a fundamental problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The American dream: Out of reach<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Economists <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/goldin\/home\">Claudia Goldin<\/a>, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/lkatz\">Lawrence Katz<\/a>, Elizabeth Allison Professor of Economics, believe that the solution to reducing income inequality, which is strongly tied to the wealth gap, is to close the educational divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Goldin and Katz examined wages and income inequality in the U.S. from the end of the 19th century to the early 21st century in their trailblazing book \u201cThe Race Between Education and Technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What they found was that in periods where there was improved access to education amid technological change, as in the early 1900s when public high schools sprouted across the nation amid the Industrial Age, workers\u2019 earnings rose. Inequality began to grow in the 1980s as the economy started to shift toward knowledge-based industries and the supply of highly trained workers fell below demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-bottom alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Claudia_Goldin.jpg\" alt=\"Claudia Goldin.\" class=\"wp-image-328044\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Larry-Katz.jpg\" alt=\"Larry Katz.\" class=\"wp-image-328047\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality, say economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">File photos by Rose Lincoln and Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographers<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Around that time, the rates of college graduation began to decrease and overall high school graduation numbers leveled off. For Goldin and Katz, expanding access to higher education could actually help reduce inequality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou could wipe out a large fraction of inequality by ramping up the education of individuals who are limited in their ability to access and finish a college education,\u201d said Goldin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem of wealth inequality is more extreme than income inequality since the former builds on the latter, said Katz, and their effects persists across generations. The legacies of the Jim Crow era and racism against Blacks are expressed today in residential segregation, housing discrimination, and discrimination in the labor market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Katz, who has been studying housing discrimination and its effects on upward mobility, public policies can be implemented to reduce residential segregation. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.equality-of-opportunity.org\/images\/mto_exec_summary.pdf\">study<\/a> Katz co-authored with Chetty and <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/hendren\/home\">Nathaniel Hendren<\/a>, professor of economics, found that when low-income families move to lower-poverty neighborhoods, with help of housing vouchers and assistance, it is \u201clikely to reduce the persistence of poverty across generations.\u201d Chetty and Hendren, along with John Friedman of Brown University, were the co-founding directors of the Equality of Opportunity Project, now expanded and called Opportunity Insights, based at Harvard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Growing inequality is spoiling the chances to have a better life than the previous generation. Recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epi.org\/blog\/top-1-0-percent-reaches-highest-wages-ever-up-157-percent-since-1979\/\">numbers<\/a> show that the top 1 percent has seen their wages grow by 157 percent over the last four decades, while the wages of the bottom 90 percent grew by only 24 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inequality is one of the factors keeping the American dream out of reach, said Goldin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe American dream has sort of shifted from one in which the economic growth of the nation was shared more across the income distribution, where the growth rate of the income of those at the bottom quartile was about the same, if not more, than the growth at the top quartile,\u201d said Goldin. \u201cAnd today it\u2019s not that way at all: the bottom quartile isn\u2019t going anywhere and the top is going rapidly up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To keep the American dream alive and return to the era of shared prosperity, the government must act, said Katz. Both Goldin and Katz believe that an expansion of investment in higher education infrastructure and access to a high-quality college education would have a powerful impact in the lives of many Americans. It could be similar to the effects of the high school movement, which lifted millions of American families out of poverty during the first half of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the early 20th century, we allowed everyone access to high school,\u201d said Katz. \u201cWe have never done that for college, even though college is as essential today as high school was 100 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Additional benefits of higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The economic returns of a college degree are important, but the social returns are also valuable, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.harvard.edu\/faculty\/anthony-jack\">Anthony Jack<\/a>, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWorkers who are more educated tend to be in jobs that are more recession- and pandemic- proof,\u201d said Jack, who also holds the Shutzer Assistant Professorships at the Radcliffe Institute. \u201cThey also tend to live longer, have better health outcomes, and be more civically engaged. Education means more than just extra dollars in the bank. It\u2019s also the constellation of things that come along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the road to college has become increasingly harder, especially for low-income people, even though access to college for disadvantaged students has increased over the past two decades. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/social-trends\/2019\/05\/22\/a-rising-share-of-undergraduates-are-from-poor-families-especially-at-less-selective-colleges\/\">report<\/a> by the Pew Research Center found that the number of enrolled undergraduates from lower-income backgrounds grew from 12 percent in 1996 to 20 percent in 2016. Most of that growth has taken place in public two-year colleges and less-selective institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">\u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d says Anthony Jack, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Stephanie Mitchell\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jack_Tony_portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Anthony Jack.\" class=\"wp-image-328043\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Selective universities have also opened their gates to poor students, however. In 1998, Princeton became the first Ivy League university to offer full financial aid to low-income students, and others followed suit. At Harvard, 55 percent of undergraduates receive need-based scholarships, and the 20 percent of Harvard parents who have total incomes below $65,000 don\u2019t pay anything at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, access to college \u201cvaries greatly by parent income,\u201d according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityinsights.org\/paper\/mobilityreportcards\/\">study<\/a> by Opportunity Insights. Children with parents in the top 1 percent are 77 times more likely to attend elite colleges and universities than children with parents in the bottom 20 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To Jack, those numbers showcase that access to college is highly unequal and is influenced by income, race, wealth, and ZIP code. \u201cEducation may be the great equalizer, but access to an equal education has never been part of the American story,\u201d he said. \u201cHigher education is highly stratified. The wealthier the family, the higher the likelihood that students will enter a selective college. The inequality doesn\u2019t end there. What happens if you are one of the few low-income students who make it into these elite schools?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Jack, that is not a rhetorical question. The middle son of a single mother who worked as a school security guard, Jack rose from a working-class neighborhood in Coconut Grove, Fla., to attend Amherst College, with the help of financial aid. He then came to Harvard, where he graduated with a doctorate in sociology in 2016. Two years later, Jack wrote the book \u201cThe Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students\u201d about what it\u2019s like to be a low-income student in selective universities, partly inspired by his own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elite universities have made progress in recruiting more low-income students to their campuses, but there is much more work to be done to ensure that those students use their four years there as a springboard to a better future the same way their richer counterparts do, said Jack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe real question is not only how to increase access to colleges and universities,\u201d said Jack. \u201cWe must pay attention to what happens once those low-income students move into campus, because that\u2019s where inequality gets reproduced in ways that are sometimes invisible but no less insidious.\u201d<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Marshall Plan for higher education<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong> <\/strong>So if greater access to public higher education would help close the wealth gap, what we need is a kind of Marshall Plan to fix the system, says economist <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/ddeming\/home\">David J. Deming<\/a>, professor of public policy and director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/centers\/wiener\">Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hks.harvard.edu\/\">Harvard Kennedy School<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That U.S. government initiative helped rebuild infrastructure and economy in Europe after the destruction of World War II. Deming\u2019s ambitious proposal would likewise focus resources on overhauling and expanding the size and number of two- and four-year public institutions, with a goal of making access to college virtually universal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe ought to set a goal of increasing access to higher education for low-income students and students of color, to basically equalize education opportunity,\u201d said Deming. \u201cWe need to invest in public higher education because it actually would make a difference in terms of intergenerational mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For one, public higher education is where most of the nation\u2019s post-secondary schooling takes place. A <a href=\"https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/programs\/digest\/d19\/tables\/dt19_105.30.asp\">report<\/a> by the National Center for Education Statistics found that of the 19.7 million college students enrolled in the fall of 2019, 14.5 million attended public colleges and universities compared with 5.1 million enrolled in private institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wp-block-table is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top alignwide media-cluster is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figcaption class=\"wp-block-group wp-element-caption is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">David J. Deming\u2019s vision involves far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbw\/Harvard file photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Deming.jpg\" alt=\"David Deming.\" class=\"wp-image-328048\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The number of students enrolled in post-secondary education has skyrocketed over the past five decades. The report predicted that by the fall of 2029, more than 20 million students will be enrolled in college. Of them, nearly 15 million will attend public institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deming\u2019s vision would involve far-reaching investment across two-year colleges and four-year universities, many of which have been historically underfunded and understaffed. Instructors are often adjunct faculty who teach large classes and have high course loads, and many institutions lack tutoring and counseling services to help less-prepared students navigate through college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In terms of investment per student, the scale of inequality in resources is much greater in higher education than it is at the K-12 level. As an example, Deming points out that a rich school district might spend 20 percent more per student than a poor school district, whereas Harvard spends more than $100,000 per year per student, and Bunker Hill Community College spends about $10,000 or $15,000 per year per student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJust purely in terms of dollars and cents, the disparity is much, much greater at the higher education level,\u201d said Deming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investing in higher public education won\u2019t solve all the myriad problems that affect inequality, such as the declining minimum wage and discrimination in the labor market, among others. But it would be a big first step, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":178416,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2016\/02\/the-costs-of-inequality-when-a-fair-shake-isnt\/","url_meta":{"origin":318940,"position":0},"title":"The costs of inequality: When a fair shake isn\u2019t","author":"harvardgazette","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Inequality is rampant in American life and is a key topic in the presidential campaign, but Harvard faculty members have been exploring its many facets for decades, and suggesting some solutions.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/overview-inequality_1120x600.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/overview-inequality_1120x600.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/overview-inequality_1120x600.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/overview-inequality_1120x600.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":180498,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2016\/03\/the-costs-of-inequality-faster-lives-and-quicker-deaths\/","url_meta":{"origin":318940,"position":1},"title":"The costs of inequality: Faster lives, quicker deaths","author":"harvardgazette","date":"March 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"For African Americans and Hispanics, damaged neighborhoods undercut education, health, jobs \u2014 the keys to overcoming inequality and succeeding.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Illustration of white businessman catching a dollar and colleagues of color catching coins.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/race_final1120x633.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/race_final1120x633.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/race_final1120x633.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/race_final1120x633.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":366680,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2023\/11\/new-study-finds-wide-gap-in-sat-act-test-scores-between-wealthy-lower-income-kids\/","url_meta":{"origin":318940,"position":2},"title":"New study finds wide gap in SAT\/ACT test scores between wealthy, lower-income kids","author":"harvardgazette","date":"November 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Opportunity Insights researcher notes how opportunity, preparation differences begin early, play major role in success, suggests possible solutions","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Test with pencil.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2500.test_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2500.test_.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2500.test_.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2500.test_.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":167328,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2015\/03\/explaining-capital\/","url_meta":{"origin":318940,"position":3},"title":"Explaining \u2018Capital\u2019","author":"harvardgazette","date":"March 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Acclaimed French economist Thomas Piketty discusses his landmark text, \u201cCapital in the Twenty-First Century,\u201d one year after its publication in English.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/030615_piketty_076_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/030615_piketty_076_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/030615_piketty_076_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":154888,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/04\/faith-and-free-markets\/","url_meta":{"origin":318940,"position":4},"title":"Faith and free markets","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The HDS Episcopal\/Anglican Fellowship hosts the fourth annual New England Anglican Studies Conference, an academic and ecumenical conference at Harvard Divinity School. The theme of this year\u2019s conference is \u201cChristianity and Capitalism.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hds_qa_charlesstang-016_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hds_qa_charlesstang-016_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hds_qa_charlesstang-016_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":366576,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2023\/11\/harvard-the-legacy-of-slavery-launches-first-grant-program\/","url_meta":{"origin":318940,"position":5},"title":"Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery launches first grant program","author":"harvardgazette","date":"November 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeks proposals from community, Harvard that will address systemic inequities","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Overview of campus in the fall.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/102723_Features_SM_18.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/102723_Features_SM_18.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/102723_Features_SM_18.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/102723_Features_SM_18.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131912115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318940"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375997,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318940\/revisions\/375997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318940"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gazette-formats?post=318940"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=318940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}