The US Racial Wealth Gap and the Implications for Financial Inclusion and Wealth Management Policies

Abstract

AbstractThis paper contributes to debates on economic inequality and ethnic and racial dimensions of social policy by focusing on the US racial wealth gap and assessing in what ways the private wealth management industry has contributed to this gap and reinforced white supremacy. The combined effects of the private wealth management industry reproducing whiteness and the industry being embedded in whiteness act as a barrier to developing a wider understanding of the savings and investment behaviour of people of colour. The paper addresses the role of public policy in closing the gap for investment advice, whether it should become a direct provider, or a facilitator to encourage the wider engagement of existing market participants.