The Colors of Poverty ─ Why Racial and Ethnic Disparities Persist

"In The Colors of Poverty Ann Chih Lin and David Harris bring together a stellar roster of scholars to argue that racial inequality does not stem from a single powerful socioeconomic disadvantage, but from multiple disadvantages that accumulate over time to undermine decisively the life chances of poor minorities. Attempts to find one underlying cause of poverty and eliminate it with a magic policy bullet, they argue, are doomed to failure. This insight should guide all future research and policy on poverty in the United States."---Douglas S. Massey, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs. Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

"The Colors of Poverty has it all---theory, data, and policy. It treats a wide range of substantive topics and is inclusive of the full `color' spectrum in the United States, not just blacks and whites. Ann Chih Lin and David R. Harris, and the chapter authors, bring a fresh perspective to the vexing problem of race-based disadvantage. You may not need any other book on your syllabus."---Mary Pattillo, professor of sociology and African American studies. Northwestern University

"The Colors of Poverty, the product of an interdisciplinary team of leading scholars, explores the key issues at the intersection of race. poverty, and public policy. The book's eleven chapters are sophisticated. comprehensive, and well-balanced. Anyone who wants to understand the multiple and overlapping causes of the persistence of racial disadvantage in the United States could not do better than to study this book."---Paul A. Jargowsky, professor of public policy. University of Texas at Dallas