Bob Williams, Sulon Bibb Stedman Professor of Economics, presented his paper, “Mind the (Racial Wealth) Gap: Results from the SCF 2022,” in January at the Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) Conference in San Francisco.  

In this paper, Bob examines the recent release of the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), the triennially generated survey of household wealth that is considered the “gold standard” of wealth surveys. Upon its release, most headlines trumpeted the substantial improvements in household wealth among the young as well as Black and Latinx households. 

Using the lens of stratification economics, Bob offered a more sobering narrative. Black households did experience a large relative increase in their median wealth largely due to the dramatic rise in home values. Nonetheless, they fell further behind the typical white households in absolute terms. 

More worrisome are some structural changes. The rise in wealth over the past generation is causing sources of capital income (dividends, interest and profit) to rise faster than employment income. This suggests another reason that the rich will get richer faster than others. Further, this rise in household wealth is simply increasing the size of inheritances among the few and not broadening the intergenerational giving across more families. Lastly, the absence of family wealth and the cost of a college education is causing an alarming number of Black and Latinx college graduates to experience student debt levels that are challenging to pay off. 

Each of these structural changes portend a future that will witness an expansion of the already vast racial wealth gaps. 

As always, Bob is deeply appreciative of the Kenan Faculty Funds that have supported his research and writing over the years.