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http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp016q182p29t| Title: | The asset value of whiteness: Understanding the racial wealth gap |
| Contributors: | Traub, Amy Sullivan, Laura Meschede, Tatjana Shapiro, Tom |
| Keywords: | Minorities—Economic conditions United States—Economic conditions—21st century United States—Social conditions—21st century Income distribution—United States Equality—Economic aspects African Americans—Economic conditions Hispanic Americans—Economic conditions |
| Issue Date: | Feb-2017 |
| Publisher: | Demos |
| Place of Publication: | New York |
| Description: | No metric more powerfully captures the persistence and growth of economic inequality along racial and ethnic lines than the racial wealth gap. The median white household possessed $13 in net wealth for every dollar held by the median black household in 2013. That same year, median white households possessed $10 for each dollar held by the median Latino household. Research probing the causes of the racial wealth gap has traced its origins to historic injustices, from slavery to segregation to redlining. The outcomes of past injustice are carried forward as wealth is handed down across generations and are reinforced by ostensibly “color-blind” practices and policies in effect today. Yet many popular explanations for racial economic inequality overlook these deep roots, asserting that wealth disparities must be solely the result of individual life choices and personal achievements. The misconception that personal responsibility accounts for the racial wealth gap is an obstacle to the policies that could effectively address racial disparities. This paper explores a number of these popular explanations for the racial wealth gap, looking at individual differences in education, family structure, full- or part-time employment, and consumption habits. In each case, we find that individual choices are not sufficient to erase a century of accumulated wealth: structural racism trumps personal responsibility. We find that white adults who don’t graduate high school, don’t get married before having children, and don’t work full time still have much greater wealth at the median than comparable black and Latino adults—and often have more wealth than black and Latino households that have married, completed more education, or work longer hours. Differences in consumption habits also cannot explain the wealth gap; we look at academic research finding that white households spend more than black households of comparable incomes, yet still have more wealth. |
| URI: | http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp016q182p29t |
| Related resource: | https://www.demos.org/research/asset-value-whiteness-understanding-racial-wealth-gap |
| Appears in Collections: | Monographic reports and papers (Publicly Accessible) |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AssetValueofWhiteness.pdf | 218.28 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Download |
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