As part of a larger ongoing study of inequality in America, researchers used patent data to focus on innovation. Among their findings, children from high-income families are 10 times as likely to become inventors as those from low-income families. White children are three times more likely to become inventors than black children. And just 18 percent of inventors are women. Harvard’s Alex Bell worked on the study. He met us at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum in Alexandria, Virginia. Alex Bell:  What we see is that there are a lot of talented kids who seem like they have the right stuff to become inventors, but yet they don’t follow careers of innovation. This is concerning because it seems like we’re leaving a lot of innovation on the table, and innovation we really think is the fuel for a long-run economic growth.

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