Study: “A Penny on the Dollar: Racial Inequalities in Wealth among Households with Children”

The study, “A Penny on the Dollar: Racial Inequalities in Wealth Among Households with Children,” by Professor Christine Percheski of the Department of Sociology and Christina Gibson-Davis of Duke University, was published in Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World.

The study found that wealth gaps between black and white families with children, and between Hispanic and black families, have widened since the Great Recession in 2007–09, even though the long-time gap between black and white families’ earnings and wages, or income, has stayed the same. By 2016, black families had just one cent, and Hispanic families had eight cents, for every dollar of wealth held by white families.

“Racial inequality in income for families with children has not grown recently, but racial wealth inequality has grown tremendously. The level of racial economic inequality in the U.S. is staggeringly high, and that is an important part of the story of racial violence and racial injustice and health disparities of the COVID pandemic,” said Professor Christine Percheski.

Professor Christine Percheski

Professor Christine Percheski discusses this research in the Northwestern Now story: “Racial Wealth Gap Growing for Families with Children”