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WIDENING RACIAL
WEALTH GAP
Tom Shapiro
Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy
Director, Institute on Assets and Social Policy
Heller School, Brandeis University
RISING WEALTH INEQUALITY:
CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, AND POTENTIAL RESPONSES
National Poverty Center
Ford School of Public Policy
School of Social Work
Panel Study of Income Dynamics
Department of Economics
April 24, 2015
Racial Wealth Gap Matters
• Why it Matters
• State of the Art and Baseline
• Widening Gap
• Why it is Widening
• Racial Wealth Audit™
$120,000
$100,000
Racial Wealth Gap vs. Income
Inequality
Gap
$104K
Gap
$103K
$80,000
$60,000
$40,000
$20,000
$0
Median Wealth
Whites
Blacks
Median Income (Annual)
Latinos
The Widening Racial Wealth Gap,
1984 - 2009
What’s Driving the Increasing Racial Wealth Gap
28%
Number of Years of Homeownership
Household Income
17%
College Education
6%
Unemployment
5%
Financial Support/Inheritance
4%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Policies and the Racial Wealth Gap
• Public policies have been key in increasing RWG:
• G.I. Bill
• Housing/Redlining
• Retirement Savings
• Past policies have inadvertently exacerbated
wealth disparities
• Need to evaluate policies’ impact on the RWG
• The Racial Wealth Audit aims to serve this need:
• A new tool and framework for policy impact
Racial Wealth Audit ™
• Distributional Impact on Racial Wealth Gap
What if…
…Home equity investments
created the same wealth gains
for African Americans as they
do for whites?
…The return to a college
education was the same
among Latinos as among
whites?
The Racial Wealth Audit™
Purpose: Impact of Policy/Program on RWG?
Utilize Statistical Methods for Modeling
Predictions
• National Datasets (PSID, SIPP, SCF)
• Create Modeling Predictions of Policy Impacts
Based on Empirical Data
• Analysis based on reimagined scenarios or
specific policies
• Data Projections (e.g. Reweighting & Regression
Model Predictions)
Policy Example: Equalizing
Homeownership Rates
Wealth Gap Compared to White Households
Latino Families
Black Families
$0
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
$140,000
Current Wealth Gap with White Households
Gap Closure after Equalizing Homeownership rates
$160,000
Report: The Racial Wealth Gap: Why
Policy Matters
• Policies are drivers of the racial wealth gap
• Disparities in rates and predicted financial gains of
asset ownership both matter
• For example:
• Homeownership rates are: 73% for whites,
47% for Latinos, 45% for Blacks
• Equalizing homeownership rates would reduce
Black-white wealth gap by 31 percent
• Equalizing predicted gains in homeownership
by race would reduce Black-white gap by 16
percent
The Racial Wealth Gap: Why Policy
Matters
• Analysis in new report looks at three key areas
shaping wealth gaps
• Housing
• Education
• Labor Markets/Income
• Findings suggest that new policy proposals could
reduce RWG, including:
• First-time homebuyers programs
• Affordable College Compact
• Easing unionization efforts and supporting work-place
benefits
• Report first in series utilizing the Racial Wealth
Audit™
THANKS!
[email protected]
iasp.brandeis.edu
@tmshapiro
@IASP_Heller
IASP is searching for a Senior Research Associate, to learn more please
visit www.iasp.brandeis.edu