Federal Wealth Policy and the Perpetuation of White Supremacy

2021 ◽  
pp. 003464462110008
Author(s):  
Robert B. Williams
Keyword(s):  
White Supremacy ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
Wealth Accumulation ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
The Past ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Tax Exemptions ◽  
Tax Deductions ◽  
Tax Benefits ◽  
The U.S

Since its inception, the U.S. government has strongly promoted the expansion of White wealth. These past policies have created the current wealth gaps in which White households typically hold >10 times the wealth held by Black or Latinx households. The tradition continues today. Using nine tax deductions, the federal government currently supports household wealth accumulation by nearly $640 billion annually. Although they make no overt mention of race, these tax exemptions are designed specifically to help wealthier households. Using evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances, this article estimates the racial shares of these tax benefits and shows a clear pattern of racial favoritism. In addition, repeated efforts to eliminate the estate and gift taxes mean more intergenerational wealth is tax-exempted. As in the past, our current federal wealth policies are promoting White supremacy.

scholarly journals The African-American Financial Services Market: Profiling The Substantiality And Viability Of An Underserved Segment

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Stevenson ◽  
D. Anthony Plath
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Investment Portfolio ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Portfolio Composition ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Do So

The purpose of this study is to help marketers recognize, understand and respond to the underserved African-American financial services market in the U.S. To do so, the study examines demographic trends and financial consumption patterns of African-American consumers, drawing on the most recent Survey of Consumer Finances to explore the principal differences between black and white households asset holdings and financial product and service preferences. Findings indicate that the African-American market has grown rapidly in size and viability over the past decade, and that African-American consumers differ markedly from their white counterparts in terms of financial product preferences and investment portfolio composition. The difference between the two segments is especially evident in the case of relatively more risky, but higher return, financial products. Based on these findings it is apparent that marketers should endeavor to reach this increasingly attractive but underserved segment of the U.S. financial services marketplace.

scholarly journals Wealth Stratification and Portfolio Choice

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 411-415
Author(s):  
Karl David Boulware ◽  
Kenneth N. Kuttner
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Portfolio Choice ◽  
Stock Prices ◽  
Demographic Factors ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
The Past ◽  
Consumer Finances

This paper investigates the past decade's increase in wealth inequality along racial and ethnic lines. Using a new measure of wealth stratification based on data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, we find that stratification increased significantly for blacks from 2007 to 2016; Hispanics exhibited a similar but less pronounced trend. Our regression analysis shows that relative to whites, blacks and Hispanics tend to invest more in houses and less in stocks, controlling for observable demographic factors. Consequently, these groups did not benefit as much as whites from the decade's spectacular increase in stock prices.

Understanding the Unequal Post-Great Recession Wealth Recovery for American Families

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sisi Zhang ◽  
Shuaizhang Feng
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Wealth Accumulation ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Family Level ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Race Ethnicity

AbstractThe wealth of US families had not returned to its prerecession level by 2013, six years after the onset of the Great Recession. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of this slow and uneven episode of wealth recovery, using family-level data from the Survey of Consumer Finances 1989–2013. Both descriptive results and regressions controlling for life cycle wealth accumulation show that families of color and less-educated families are falling behind in wealth recovery because their wealth portfolios are concentrated in housing, which has recovered very slowly. The decomposition results suggest that homeownership plays a significant role in explaining wealth disparity by race, ethnicity, and education at the mean and bottom of the wealth distribution. Understanding the uneven wealth recovery has important implications for redesigning asset-related policies and narrowing wealth gaps.

scholarly journals Wealth, Health, and Disability Gaps at Midlife: Implications for Disparate Retirement Outcome

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 586-586
Author(s):  
Stephen Crystal
Keyword(s):  
Health Inequality ◽  
Generation X ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Wealth Accumulation ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Increasing Risk ◽  
Deaths Of Despair ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Late-life economic outcomes in coming years will be strongly shaped by the impact of economic and health experience for cohorts now at midlife. These cohorts have experienced lagging and increasingly disparate wealth accumulation, along with challenges to health and earning potential that augur highly disparate retirement futures. For example, analyses of Survey of Consumer Finances data indicate that in 2016, members of Generation X had mean assets that were only 39% those of the boomers in that year. Increasing risk of “deaths of despair” among individuals in midlife have been accompanied by increases in disability that threaten the ability of those members of these cohorts who are not in the educationally advantaged minority to achieve secure retirement futures, particularly in the context of increasing employment precarity. This presentation will review recent findings on midlife wealth and health inequality, implications for retirement futures, and policy choices facing a new Presidential administration.

scholarly journals Family Finance in the U.S.: Recent Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances

1997 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 0-0 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur B. Kennickell ◽  
◽  
Martha Starr-McCluer ◽  
Annika E. Sunden
Keyword(s):  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
Family Finance ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals Use of Financial Planners and Portfolio Performance

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Lei ◽  
Rui Yao
Keyword(s):  
Financial Planning ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Wealth Accumulation ◽  
Portfolio Performance ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Financial Planners ◽  
Household Portfolio ◽  
Using Data

Using data from the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances, this study evaluates the potential effect of using financial planners on household portfolio performance, which was measured by Sharpe Ratio. Results revealed that households that reported using financial planners demonstrated better portfolio performance than those that did not. This lends empirical support to claims that professional financial planning services provide value to clients. Implications for investors, financial planning professionals, and researchers are discussed. Considering the direct relation between wealth accumulation and portfolio performance, financial planners should explore ways in which to work with those with limited resources to help them realize the benefits of using financial planners and improve their portfolio performance as a result.

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