There are wide, stubborn economic gaps between black and white households in the U.S. Why? Many factors are at work, of course, including lower rates of upward mobility, discrimination in the labor market, big differences in rates of incarceration, disparities in access to quality education, historic exclusion from home ownership, and so on.

College education is often seen as a powerful tool to close race gaps. But it is at best only a partial answer, for four reasons:

  1. The gap in college achievement is as wide as ever
  2. Black Americans with an undergraduate degree are less wealthy than whites
  3. Marriage rates by race remain wide even for college graduates
  4. The chances of both spouses having an undergraduate degree are lower for black couples

Read the full article on closing race gaps by Richard V. Reeves and Katherine Guyot at Brookings