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Wealth of Two Nations: The U.S. Racial Wealth Gap, 1860-2020

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Abstract
The racial wealth gap is the largest of the economic disparities between Black and white Americans, with a white-to-Black per capita wealth ratio of 6 to 1. It is also among the most persistent. In this paper, we construct the first continuous series on white-to-Black per capita wealth ratios from 1860 to 2020, drawing on historical census data, early state tax records, and historical waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances, among other sources. Incorporating these data into a parsimonious model of wealth accumulation for each racial group, we document the role played by initial conditions, income growth, savings behavior, and capital returns in the evolution of the gap. Given vastly different starting conditions under slavery, racial wealth convergence would remain a distant scenario, even if wealth-accumulating conditions had been equal across the two groups since Emancipation. Relative to this equal-conditions benchmark, we find that observed convergence has followed an even slower path over the last 150 years, with convergence stalling after 1950. Since the 1980s, the wealth gap has widened again as capital gains have predominantly benefited white households, and income convergence has stopped.

Suggested Citation

  • Ellora Derenoncourt & Chi Hyun Kim & Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick, 2022. "Wealth of Two Nations: The U.S. Racial Wealth Gap, 1860-2020," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 059, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedmoi:95872
    DOI: 10.21034/iwp.59
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. William J. Collins & Robert A. Margo, 2011. "Race and Home Ownership from the Civil War to the Present," NBER Working Papers 16665, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Matthew Smith & Owen Zidar & Eric Zwick, 2020. "Top Wealth in America: New Estimates and Implications for Taxing the Rich," Working Papers 264, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    3. Higgs, Robert, 1982. "Accumulation of Property by Southern Blacks before World War I," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(4), pages 725-737, September.
    4. Edward N. Wolff, 2017. "Household Wealth Trends in the United States, 1962 to 2016: Has Middle Class Wealth Recovered?," NBER Working Papers 24085, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. William J. Collins & Robert A. Margo, 2011. "Race and Home Ownership from the End of the Civil War to the Present," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 355-359, May.
    6. Amir Kermani & Francis Wong, 2021. "Racial Disparities in Housing Returns," NBER Working Papers 29306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Teresa Kroeger & Graham Wright, 2021. "Entrepreneurship and the Racial Wealth Gap: The Impact of Entrepreneurial Success or Failure on the Wealth Mobility of Black and White Families," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 183-195, September.
    8. Margo, Robert A, 1984. "Accumulation of Property by Southern Blacks before World War I: Comment and Further Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 768-776, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Blanchet, 2022. "Uncovering the Dynamics of the Wealth Distribution," Working Papers hal-03865295, HAL.
    2. Ellora Derenoncourt & Chi Hyun Kim & Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick, 2024. "Unemployment risk, portfolio choice, and the racial wealth gap," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_508, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    3. David Sturrock, 2023. "Wealth and welfare across generations," IFS Working Papers W23/15, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    4. Ellora Derenoncourt & Chi Hyun Kim & Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick, 2024. "Unemployment Risk, Portfolio Choice, and the Racial Wealth Gap," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 086, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    5. Stephen B. Billings & Adam Soliman, 2023. "The erosion of homeownership and minority wealth," CEP Discussion Papers dp1967, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Ellora Derenoncourt & Chi Hyun Kim & Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick, 2023. "Unemployment Risk, Portfolio Choice, and the Racial Wealth Gap," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 265, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    7. Ellora Derenoncourt & Chi Hyun Kim & Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick, 2023. "Unemployment Risk, Portfolio Choice, and the Racial Wealth Gap," Working Papers 332, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wealth accumulation; Wealth inequality; Savings and asset prices; Racial wealth gap;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N11 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N12 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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