Differences in race, religion and sexual orientation have erupted in violence around the world recently, making it all too clear that tolerance is an ideal that our societies haven’t fully achieved. What isn’t well known is that economists have been studying tolerance and its preconditions for many years, discovering some […] Read more »
Is the Defendant White or Not?
As jury selection continues in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the defendant in the Boston Marathon bombings, so does debate about what would constitute a fair and impartial jury. … Within hours of the F.B.I.’s release of the suspects’ photographs, we collected responses from 426 white Americans to a broad […] Read more »
Poll Shows Racial Divide in Assessing Equality
In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his vision of America’s future, uttering one of the most oft-quoted statements about racial equality in the nation’s history: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by […] Read more »
Women and Leadership: Public Says Women are Equally Qualified, but Barriers Persist
According to the majority of Americans, women are every bit as capable of being good political leaders as men. The same can be said of their ability to dominate the corporate boardroom. … So why, then, are women in short supply at the top of government and business in the […] Read more »
The Measuring Sticks of Racial Bias
The deaths of African-Americans at the hands of the police in Ferguson, Mo., in Cleveland and on Staten Island have reignited a debate about race. Some argue that these events are isolated and that racism is a thing of the past. Others contend that they are merely the tip of […] Read more »
A reminder of the lasting power of racial politics in America
The year 2014 will be remembered politically for many things, among them the Republican Party’s impressive victories in the midterm elections. But as much as anything, the year was a reminder of the depth of racial divisions and the continuing existence of racial politics in America. CONT. Dan Balz, Washington […] Read more »