AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
Setting the Record Straight on Racial Wealth Inequality
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 114,
May 2024
(pp. 169–73)
Abstract
The racial wealth gap in the United States is the object of much misrepresentation and misunderstanding. Our paper is intended to provide a corrective. We will address how the mainstream economic view of the drivers of racial disparities in wealth is a human capital view that promotes anti-Black and personal responsibility narratives while ignoring the significance of the racially uneven transmission of resources across generations. It also fails to acknowledge the cumulative impact of US racial history on present wealth gaps.Citation
Addo, Fenaba R., William A. Darity Jr., and Samuel L. Myers Jr. 2024. "Setting the Record Straight on Racial Wealth Inequality." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 114: 169–73. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20241102Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D31 Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
- G51 Household Finance: Household Saving, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N32 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: 1913-