Black/white differences in wealth.(Statistical Data Included) From: Economic Perspectives | Date: March 22, 2000| Author: Altonji, Joseph G.; Doraszelski, Ulrich; Segal, Lewis | COPYRIGHT 2000 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Introduction and summary

The gap in wealth holdings between African-Americans and white Americans is enormous--much larger than the gap in earnings. For example, Menchik and Jianakoplos (1997) find that the average wealth of black households is 20 percent of the average wealth of white households in the 1976 National Longitudinal Survey of mature men and 23 percent in the 1989 Survey of Consumer Finances, even though average black income is 60 percent and 50 percent of a...