Wealth inequality has widened along racial, ethnic lines since end of Great Recession

[Agschmid]

14. Thanks!

What do you think of these ideas to work towards a solution to the problem?

- Eliminating disparities in homeownership rates and returns would substantially reduce the racial wealth gap.

- If public policy successfully eliminated racial disparities in homeownership rates, so that Blacks and Latinos were as likely as white households to own their homes, median Black wealth would grow $32,113 and the wealth gap between Black and white households would shrink 31 percent. Median Latino wealth would grow $29,213 and the wealth gap with white households would shrink 28 percent.
- If public policy successfully equalized the return on homeownership, so that Blacks and Latinos saw the same financial gains as whites as a result of being homeowners, median Black wealth would grow $17,113 and the wealth gap between Black and white households would shrink 16 percent. Median Latino wealth would grow $41,652 and the wealth gap with white households would shrink 41 percent.

Eliminating disparities in college graduation and the return on a college degree would have a modest direct impact on the racial wealth gap.

-If public policy successfully eliminated racial disparities in college graduation rates, median Black wealth would grow $1,313 and the wealth gap between Black and white households would shrink 1 percent. Median Latino wealth would grow $3,528 and the wealth gap with white households would shrink 3 percent.
-If public policy successfully equalized the return to college graduation, median Black wealth would grow $10,786 and the wealth gap between Black and white households would shrink 10 percent. Median Latino wealth would grow $5,878 and the wealth gap with white households would shrink 6 percent.

Eliminating disparities in income—and even more so, the wealth return on income—would substantially reduce the racial wealth gap.

- If public policy successfully eliminated racial disparities in income, median Black wealth would grow $11,488 and the wealth gap between Black and white households would shrink 11 percent. Median Latino wealth would grow $8,765 and the wealth gap with white households would shrink 9 percent.
- If public policy successfully equalized the return to income, so that each additional dollar of income going to Black and Latino households was converted to wealth at the same rate as white households, median Black wealth would grow $44,963 and median Latino wealth would grow $51,552. This would shrink the wealth gap with white households by 43 and 50 percent respectively.

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