THE HAPPINESS GAP SHRINKS

Two-fifths of the gap in happiness between blacks and whites has closed since the early 1970s, even though black income gains compared with whites' during the period have been modest, two economists write. (click below to read more)



A new working paper using data from 1972 to 2008 reports that the gap narrowed mainly because black Americans grew happier, but also because white Americans became somewhat less happy. Blacks have long lagged behind by this measure, presumably because they have had to live with extensive discrimination.

The authors suggest that the civil-rights movement may have improved the quality of life enjoyed by black Americans in hard-to-measure ways. Increasing black happiness further, they say, will probably require an improvement in their objective circumstances—such as income and health—which remain considerably worse than those of white Americans.

"Subjective and Objective Indicators of Racial Progress," Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, Working Paper 18916, National Bureau of Economic Research (March)