Long Run Trends in Quality of Life by Race

Mark Bittman writes in the Sunday NY Times; "The progress of the last 40 years has been mostly cultural, culminating, the last couple of years, in the broad legalization of same-sex marriage. But by many other measures, especially economic, things have gotten worse, thanks to the establishment of neo-liberal principles — anti-unionism, deregulation, market fundamentalism and intensified, unconscionable greed — that began with Richard Nixon and picked up steam under Ronald Reagan. Too many are suffering now because too few were fighting then."

Those are tough words that many NY Times readers will nod along with as they read them on Sunday morning but are they correct?  Would most minorities voluntarily enter a time machine and live their lives 40 years ago?  Were the 1970s so great?  (We are not talking about Studio 54 here).  Since we don't have a market for time machines, we have no way for people to express the intensity of their preferences. Instead, the NY Times publishes strange nostalgia.   Let's look at some objective facts.

Let's look at life expectancy trends in the USA by race or read this piece.

Do see the convergence taking place over the last 40 years?  I see progress during the 1970s, not in the 1980s but sharp progress in black life expectancy from 1995 to 2010.  I assume the vertical axis is not correctly labeled. It should say "life expectancy".  

Let's look at trends in home ownership since 1990:

While the black home ownership line declines since 2004, I again see overall progress and some convergence.

For other optimistic evidence on Median income by race and poverty trends by race look at this Pew Report and you will see similar evidence of black progress especially with respect to the % living below the poverty line and in terms of educational attainment.

As an environmental economist, I suggest that you also look at trends in urban air pollution exposure. Blacks live closer to the city center than whites and there have been large air and water pollution and toxics pollution reductions in center cities.

Crime rates tend to be higher in center cities than in suburbs and this means that blacks live in areas with higher levels of crime. As crime has fallen in these areas, this means that blacks have been disproportionately exposed to less crime relative to whites who tend to cluster in suburbs.   This has not been a free lunch for renters as gentrification in Harlem demonstrates.

I understand that there are important policing questions that need to be asked and debated but Mr. Bittman's confidence in his own statement is a pinch amazing.   Is the world "going to hell"?  I don't think so.  In our imperfect world, we are making progress and our standard of living is improving.  If you want to go back in time, where do you want to go?  Germany in 1941?    To join Lincoln in 1861?  To join Archie Bunker in 1973?     You have to go somewhere.  I think you would pick the USA in 2014.