I write often about the black-white educational achievement gap, so was fascinated by this article about the black-white happiness gap, which (unlike the achievement gap) is closing:

Set aside some prominent success stories, like the current occupant of the White House, and the last few decades have not been great ones for African-American progress.

In 1975, per capita black income was 41 percent lower than per capita white income. Since then, the gap has shrunk only modestly, to 35 percent. The black unemployment rate today is nearly twice as high as the white rate, just as it was in 1975. And by some measures — family structure, college graduation, incarceration — racial gaps have actually grown.

But now a new study has found that there is one big realm in which black Americans have made major progress: happiness.

White Americans don't report being any more satisfied with their lives than they did in the 1970s, various surveys show. Black Americans do, and significantly so.

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Economic Scene

For Blacks, Progress in Happiness

By DAVID LEONHARDT

Published: September 14, 2010

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/business/15leonhardt.html