Search Results
Journal Article
Opportunity for Whom? Building Wealth Through Advancing Racial Equity
America is undergoing a profound demographic shift amid rising inequality and persistent racial inequities. By 2030, the majority of workers under 25 will be people of color.1 By 2044, the majority of Americans will be people of color.2 Rising diversity is a tremendous asset ? if all people can access the resources and opportunity they need to thrive. If we want to truly build wealth in communities, we must relentlessly embrace the conviction that everyone in America can and should live in communities of opportunity, where good schools, healthy environments, safe homes, quality jobs, and ...
Report
A New Look at Racial Disparities Using a More Comprehensive Wealth Measure
Most research measuring disparities in wealth by race relies on data that exclude resources that are disproportionately important to low-wealth and non-white families, namely defined benefit (DB) pensions and Social Security. This paper finds that once these resources are included, disparities in wealth between white families and Black and Hispanic families are substantially smaller and that they are not rising over time. The powerful equalizing roles of DB pensions and Social Security highlighted here are further motivation for maintaining their fiscal health. This paper also presents ...
Newsletter
Examining Racial Wealth Inequality
The March 2022 issue of Page One Economics covers the topics of income and wealth through the lens of racial inequality. Learn the difference between income and wealth, how the racial wealth gap has endured over time, and the reasons that certain groups have been limited in their wealth-building potential.
Single Mothers Face Difficulties with Slim Financial Cushions
During the COVID-19 recession, single mothers faced high unemployment and were more likely to exit the labor force than single fathers and women without children.
Millennials and Older Gen Zers Made Significant Wealth Gains in 2022
The wealth of U.S. millennials and older Gen Zers grew at an unusually fast pace from 2019 to 2022, with real estate gains driving overall asset growth.
Working Paper
The geography of wealth: shocks, mobility, and precautionary savings
The spatial distribution of wealth in the United States is very heterogeneous, with important differences within and across US states. We study the distribution of wealth in a country and how it is shaped by the characteristics earnings across regions, and by the frictions individuals face to move and reallocate across space. For this, we develop a tractable model of consumption, savings, and location choice with many regions, incomplete markets, and heterogeneous agents facing persistent and transitory income shocks. Our analysis focuses on the role of income shocks, precautionary savings, ...
Briefing
Are Younger Generations of Women Prepared for Retirement?
We describe changes in the financial circumstances of women over time, focusing on employment, income and wealth. Beginning with the 1920 birth cohort, we show that women's income grew for several successive cohorts, then entered a period of stability. However, there has been no such growth in wealth. This suggests that younger generations of women may not be any better prepared for retirement than their predecessors.
Working Paper
The geography of wealth: shocks, mobility, and precautionary savings
The spatial distribution of wealth in the United States is very heterogeneous, with important differences within and across US states. We study the distribution of wealth in a country and how it is shaped by the characteristics earnings across regions, and by the frictions individuals face to move and reallocate across space. For this, we develop a tractable model of consumption, savings, and location choice with many regions, incomplete markets, and heterogeneous agents facing persistent and transitory income shocks. Our analysis focuses on the role of income shocks, precautionary savings, ...
How Young Adults’ Homeownership Differs Across Generations
St. Louis Fed economist Victoria Gregory discusses her research on wealth, homeownership and location patterns for young adults from the baby boom to Gen Z.
Journal Article
Pandemic-Era Liquid Wealth Is Running Dry
Households accumulated more liquid assets beginning in 2020 than would have been expected without the pandemic. These “extra” liquid assets have dissipated, but their evolution has differed significantly by income group. While middle- and lower-income households hold substantially less liquid wealth than implied by pre-pandemic projections, the level for higher-income households remains close to its pre-pandemic path. Over the same period, credit card delinquency rates initially dropped and, more recently, have steadily risen as pandemic-era liquid wealth was depleted, especially for ...