Explore the link between race and student debt—and read our new report on inequality and innovation

Earlier today, we released the second set of maps in our interactive Mapping Student Debt project, examining the relationship between race and student loan delinquency across the United States. Unsurprisingly, these new maps show that the two are highly correlated.

Here are the key takeaways:

• Student loan delinquency disproportionately affects minority communities.
• Even after controlling for income, race still has a strong impact on student loan delinquency.
• Middle-class minorities are hurt the most by student loan delinquency.

As Marshall Steinbaum and Kavya Vaghul explain, a substantial body of research establishes that these outcomes are the result of structural racism in higher education, the credit and labor markets, and the wealth distribution in the United States.

Yesterday, we published a new report that asks the question, “What do trends in economic inequality imply for innovation and entrepreneurship?” Authored by Elisabeth Jacobs, Senior Director for Policy and Academic Programs here at Equitable Growth, the report develops a framework that connects rising economic inequality with declining levels of innovation and economic dynamism in the United States.

Briefly, the new report finds that economic growth and inequality, innovation, and entrepreneurship are inexorably linked, but in very different ways when examined across the wealth and income spectrum rather than through the usual lens of overall small business creation and direct investments in technology and innovation.