scholarly journals Wealth Stratification and Portfolio Choice

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 411-415
Author(s):  
Karl David Boulware ◽  
Kenneth N. Kuttner

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.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Seamster ◽  
Raphaël Charron-Chénier

Analyses of the recent surge in racial wealth inequality have tended to focus on changes in asset holdings. Debt patterns, by contrast, have remained relatively unexplored. Using 2001-2013 data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), we show that after peaking in 2007, debt levels for most debt types had returned to pre-financial crisis levels for blacks and whites by 2013. The primary exception to this is education debt, on which this paper focuses. We show that educational debt has increased substantially for blacks relative to whites in the past decade. We also show that this increase in debt is not attributable to differences in educational attainment across racial groups. These trends, we argue, reflect a process of predatory inclusion, where lenders and financial actors offer needed services to black households, but on exploitative terms that limit or eliminate their long-term benefits. Predatory inclusion, we propose, is one of the mechanisms behind the persistence of racial inequality in contemporary markets.


Author(s):  
Gabor Kezdi ◽  
Margaret Lay ◽  
David Weir

We document changes in wealth inequality across American households with a member aged 55 or older, comparing data in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) with that in the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) between 1998 and 2016. We examine net wealth including housing, financial and nonfinancial assets and debt, without the cash value of insurances, DB pensions or Social Security wealth. We find very similar distributions of net wealth in the two surveys between the 25th and 90th percentiles, but substantially higher wealth in the SCF at the top of the distribution. Both surveys show an increase in wealth inequality between 1998 and 2016, first mostly due to increased wealth at the top, and, after 2012, due to an increase in the share of households with very little wealth as well. Both surveys agree that wealth inequality by education and race, already substantial in 1998, increased further by 2016.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003464462110008
Author(s):  
Robert B. Williams

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.


GeroPsych ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 246-251
Author(s):  
Gozde Cetinkol ◽  
Gulbahar Bastug ◽  
E. Tugba Ozel Kizil

Abstract. Depression in older adults can be explained by Erikson’s theory on the conflict of ego integrity versus hopelessness. The study investigated the relationship between past acceptance, hopelessness, death anxiety, and depressive symptoms in 100 older (≥50 years) adults. The total Beck Hopelessness (BHS), Geriatric Depression (GDS), and Accepting the Past (ACPAST) subscale scores of the depressed group were higher, while the total Death Anxiety (DAS) and Reminiscing the Past (REM) subscale scores of both groups were similar. A regression analysis revealed that the BHS, DAS, and ACPAST predicted the GDS. Past acceptance seems to be important for ego integrity in older adults.


1965 ◽  
Vol 60 (309) ◽  
pp. 370
Author(s):  
James C. Byrnes ◽  
George Katona ◽  
Charles A. Lininger ◽  
Eva Mueller

2021 ◽  
pp. JFCP-19-00022
Author(s):  
Kyoung Tae Kim ◽  
Sherman D. Hanna ◽  
Dongyue Ying

The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) has included a 4-level risk tolerance measure since 1983. In 2016, the SCF also included an 11-level risk tolerance measure. We compare the two measures, and develop suggestions for using the new measure. While the new measure is seemingly simpler than the old measure, we demonstrate that it does not have a monotonic relationship with owning stock assets, with a pattern similar to the relationship of the old measure to stock ownership. We also identify complex patterns of factors related to different levels of the new measure, for instance education has a negative relationship at one level but positive at another level. Those using the new measure should consider the complex patterns we demonstrate.


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