Wealth Gap Research Articles

A Double Negative: Capitalizing on Assessment Regressivity

We estimate the degree to which tax inequity generated through property tax assessment practices are capitalized into residential property values. Our analysis not only evaluates whether property buyers understand the tax obligations they are likely to face at the purchase of their property, we also document varying effects based on assessment status. Overassessed, lower-valued property sell for a discount and underassessed, higher-valued property sell for a premium. Specifically, overassessed property sells for an undercapitalized discount of 13%, while underassessed property sells for overcapitalized premiums equal more than 10%. Together, our results imply assessment practices impact wealth both during and after property ownership, potentially widening the wealth gap between high- and low-income homeowners.

Racial Wealth Gains and Gaps: Ten Economic Facts About the Disparities

Racial Wealth Gains and Gaps: Ten Economic Facts About the Disparities

Understanding Financial Constraints: Causes, Effects, and Strategies for Overcoming Economic Limitations

In developing countries like Nigeria, the development and sustainability of people, companies, and economies were greatly impeded by economic and financial limitations. The main causes of these constraints included the limited availability of financial resources, high interest rates, rigorous regulatory regimes, and volatile economic situations. The most severe obstacles were encountered by small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) and marginalised people, who frequently struggle to get the required funds for growth and development. The ramifications of financial limitations were extensive, resulting in less investment, hindered economic expansion, more joblessness, and worsened wealth disparity. These constraints may also sustain societal instability, thereby further eroding economic resilience. Successfully managing financial limitations requires a holistic strategy that addresses both the supply and demand dimensions of money. A crucial aspect of the supply side was enhancing loan accessibility by creating novel financial products and services specifically designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and marginalised groups. Both microfinance organisations and fintech solutions have shown potential for offering alternative financial methods, especially in rural regions. By improving financial literacy, people and companies may make well-informed financial choices and efficiently allocate resources on the demand side. Government actions, such as implementing regulatory changes and stabilising macroeconomic factors, are crucial for establishing a more favourable financial climate. This research aimed to acquire knowledge on the factors, consequences, and approaches for surmounting financial limitations in Nigeria. Therefore, it emphasised the need for customised solutions that took into account the distinct economic, social, and cultural circumstances of the area. By conducting a comprehensive examination of peer-reviewed literature and empirical research, this study identified significant obstacles and suggested practical suggestions to improve financial accessibility, stimulate economic growth, and guarantee sustainable development. The results emphasised the importance of implementing targeted policies and regularly assessing current methods to tackle the changing financial environment in Nigeria. Keywords: Economic limitations, Financial limitations, Developing countries, Sustainability, Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Creating an Integrated System of Data and Statistics on Household Income, Consumption, and Wealth

The nation's disparate federal statistics makes it difficult to accurately measure income and wealth inequality and other aspects of economic well-being for the nation's households and families. This report provides the recommendations from a panel appointed by The Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report reviews the major income, consumption, and wealth statistics currently produced by U.S. statistical agencies, provides guidance for modernizing and integrating the information to better inform policy and research, and builds on the current effort at CNSTAT to create a 21st Century Data Infrastructure to use blended data from multiple sources. In addition to providing guidance on the appropriate definitions of household, family, and individual income, consumption, and wealth, and variations in definitions that would be useful for particular purposes, the report provides suggestions for pathways forward using multiple data sources to construct a data infrastructure for income, consumption and wealth for households. The report highlights new statistics that help in measuring the disparities in income, consumption and wealth and the changes over time in both levels and inequalities, always stressing that the disparities occur both across socio-demographic characteristics and geography. The report highlights the potential for blending multiple data sources and modeling across data sources, including surveys, tax records, state and federal administrative records, and commercial data, and documents the legal and administrative barriers to creating integrated, high-quality estimates and a data infrastructure for researchers to evaluate the impacts of public policy.

Promotion or inhibition? Exploring the influence of the digital economy on urban-rural integration: A case study of yellow River basin

The digital economy actively disrupts the "urban depression effect" and the "wealth gap" between urban and rural areas, playing a crucial role in advancing urban-rural integration. Based on this, a scientifically constructed performance evaluation indicator system for the digital economy and urban-rural integration was developed. Using the Yellow River Basin as an empirical case study area, the projection pursuit model, simulated annealing algorithm and spatial Durbin model were employed to explore the impact of the digital economy on urban-rural integration in the Yellow River Basin from 2011 to 2021. The findings reveal the following: 1) The degree of digital economy and urban-rural integration display a characteristic pattern resembling that of a downstream > midstream > upstream watershed, showcasing discernible spatial correlation features between them. 2) The digital economy in the Yellow River Basin directly fosters urban-rural integration development. Government behavior stand out as the most influential factor in promoting urban-rural integration among the control variables. 3) The impact of the digital economy on urban-rural integration in the Yellow River Basin displays regional heterogeneity, with the most pronounced effects observed in downstream areas. Moreover, the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy exhibits a distinct "good-neighborliness" characteristic. 4) The digital economy in the Yellow River Basin substantially advances urban-rural integration development through the adjustment effect of industrial structure rationalization and the mediating effect of entrepreneurial activity. These research findings shed light on the impact and spatial spillover pathways of the digital economy on urban-rural integration, aligning with the national strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.

The State of Black Male-Owned Businesses in America: High-Growth Disparity

Black businesses are the fastest-growing population of new ventures in America. The problem is the alarming disproportion of these companies achieving high-level success compared to White companies. Specifically, this study investigated Black male business owners and barriers inhibiting their ability to sustain, thrive, and become financially viable. These companies are relevant to society because they can create jobs, deliver niche products to mass markets, contribute to their communities, bridge the wealth gap, and stimulate the economy. 200 Black male entrepreneurs working full-time in their ventures were the sample. Instrumentation was an open-ended survey, and the applied framework was empirical probability.

Wealth disparities in maternal health service utilization among women of reproductive age in Ethiopia: findings from the mini-EDHS 2019

BackgroundEthiopia has made strides in reducing maternal mortality, but significant discrepancies in maternal health service utilization exist across socioeconomic levels. According to studies, women from higher-income households are far more likely to use essential services such as antenatal care, delivery care, and postnatal care than poorer women. This wealth disparity is a primary contributor to persistently high maternal mortality, particularly among poor populations. The study’s goal was to assess wealth disparities in maternal health service uptake and identify contributing factors.Methods and materialsWe used the Ethiopian Mini Demographic Health Survey (EMDHS), conducted in 2019 on women aged 15–49 living in selected census areas, with a weighted sample size of 3,909. The Erreygers Concentration Index (ECI) was used to measure wealth inequalities in maternal health care, and the ECI decomposition was used to identify factors contributing to inequality in maternal health services.ResultsMaternal health service utilization was pro-rich among women in Ethiopia. The prevalence of antenatal care service (ANC), delivery, and postnatal care (PNC) service utilization showed a pro-rich distribution among Ethiopian women, with ECI = 0.115 (95% CI: 0.091–0.137), ECI = 0.223 (95% CI: 0.191–0.276), and ECI = 0.121 (95% CI: 0.041-0.200), respectively. The ECI indices were decomposed to examine the contributing factors to disparities in maternal service utilization in Ethiopia. Mother’s current age, household family size, region, birth order, and parity were contributors to maternal health service utilization.ConclusionThe ANC service, delivery service and PNC service utilization showed a pro-rich distribution among Ethiopian women. Mother’s current age, household family size, region, birth order, and parity are important contributors of maternal health service inequality. To improve access and usage among low-income women, policymakers can develop programs including increasing the number of free or subsidized services and providing transportation.

Is Kenya’s gender wealth gap narrowing? New insights from probate records

Abstract This article introduces a new dataset on individuals leaving inheritances in Kenya, which sheds light on the country’s marked gender disparities in the ownership of wealth. An estimated 9% of decedents in Kenya leave estates that undergo probate or administration. Since the 1980s, men have been four times more likely than women to leave such estates at death. But this gender estate gap has been narrowing. The share of women leaving wealth at death has risen from below 10% in the 1970s to 25% today. The geographic variation in this gender estate gap shows that women are more likely to leave wealth in regions with active land and property markets, suggesting that women are sharing in the ownership of assets purchased in the course of their lifetimes. In contrast, in regions where much of the wealth stock is comprised of ancestral land, women remain a smaller share of inheritance-leavers.

COVID-19 and Household Wealth Heterogeneity: Evidence from South Korea

Although several studies highlighted the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on household income, its effect on household wealth has been largely disregarded. This study investigated household wealth heterogeneity in Korea using unconditional quantile regression in 2020-2021. These findings indicate that self-employed workers maintained their net assets through targeted fiscal support. However, low-educated workers, poor households, and old households suffered economic damage. Second,unemployed people experienced severe decreases in net wealth due to the pandemic. Lastly, home-owning households in the capital region earned more assets because of asset market booms. Therefore, it suggests inclusive fiscal support to alleviate wealth disparities.

Gender Wealth Gap in the USA’s Afrobeats Scene

The United States has been a space for global musical transnational encounters among African-descended peoples, with various artists collaborating. These collaborations have blossomed with the advent of Afrobeats—a loose term describing the contemporary transatlantic sound of popular African music. Although there are male and female Afrobeats performers on the African continent, this cultural exchange occurs more often between male artists and U.S. musicians. Because male artists are mostly invited for live performances, their visibility puts them in a position to perform with and collaborate with U.S. artists. As a result, male artists get nominations for global awards such as the Grammys and accumulate more wealth. For female artists, the result is less visibility and wealth. Using Tiwa Savage and Burna Boy—two Afrobeats giants—as case studies, this essay examines the factors that limit Tiwa, a female performer, from achieving the same wealth as her male counterpart, Burna Boy. Specifically, this study analyzes the sonic and semiotic representations in their popular music videos, Tiwa’s “Koroba” and Burna Boy’s “On the Low,” to understand why Burna Boy might have the edge over Tiwa. Their music and career trajectories shed light on how capitalism and sociopolitical issues, including colorism, might contribute to the gender wealth disparities between male and female Afrobeats performers.

The Quest for ‘Common Prosperity’ in China

In early 2021, President Xi Jinping introduced a national goal of achieving “common prosperity,” which aims to reduce the yawning wealth gap between China’s rich and poor. At a time when China’s economy is slowing, the implementation of common prosperity involves an unprecedented effort to maintain domestic stability and social quiescence amid intensifying geopolitical tensions. The party-state has sought to avoid provoking public discontent by pooling regional funds for social protection programs rather than pursuing taxation-based redistribution among social classes.

Review of “Before Gentrification: The Creation of DC’s Racial Wealth Gap.”

Review of “Before Gentrification: The Creation of DC’s Racial Wealth Gap.”

Unique and interactive roles of economic stress and discrimination on heterogeneous development among Chinese American adolescents: An 8-year longitudinal study.

Chinese American youth as a group are often labeled as "model minorities." Yet, this label ignores the vast heterogeneity within Chinese Americans and implies that they are immune to environmental stressors. Using an 8-year longitudinal study of 444 (54% female; initial Mage = 13-year-old) Chinese American adolescents, we identified two (well- vs. poorly adjusted) concurrent and three (stably well-adjusted, improved, and risk) latent transition profiles from early adolescence to emerging adulthood based on six indicators of academic, behavioral, and socioemotional functioning. Multilevel modeling revealed higher levels of family economic stress or discrimination independently associated with higher likelihood to be in the subgroup of adolescents with poorly adjusted patterns across development. Within an individual, Chinese American adolescents were more likely to have worse adjustment patterns in the year when they experienced higher economic stress or discrimination relative to other study years, suggesting that their adjustment are sensitive to the fluctuation of stress level during development. Longitudinally, those who experienced higher family economic stress or discrimination at early adolescence were more likely to become at risk when they reached adulthood. Higher discrimination predicted the likelihood to be in the improved groups but only among adolescents with low (but not high) economic stress, suggesting that the influence of discrimination may vary by family socioeconomic status. Findings (a) challenge the model minorities assumption, (b) highlight the importance of capturing multiple ecological contexts associated with heterogeneous development among Chinese American adolescents, and (c) provide longitudinal evidence to social policies aiming to reduce wealth disparities and anti-Asian racism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

An anticipatory regime of multiplanetary life: on SpaceX, Martian colonisation and terrestrial ruin

ABSTRACT In recent years, the aerospace engineering corporation SpaceX has been a vocal – and perhaps the foremost – contributor to the recent repopularisation of a discourse proposing the colonisation of Mars. This discourse has been intensively generative: SpaceX’s press releases regularly command prominent headlines in the news; the social media posts of Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, invariably attract thousands of replies; and a lively meme culture further amplifies what Musk himself has described as a mission to ‘make life multiplanetary’ – an imagined future in which humans have ‘occupied’ Mars. Such speculations about the future can be understood as ‘anticipatory regimes’ in which some notional, wished-for possibility is legitimised through historical narratives and inflected with the anxieties and hopes of the present. For SpaceX, this has involved assuming the inevitability of terrestrial ruin while mobilising a powerful discourse of great men and scientific endeavour embedded in the logics of colonial and capitalist expansion. This anticipatory regime occupies a prominent and generative position in net culture, but it also functions to obscure other possibilities for meaningful alternatives and urgent action in the here and now. To pursue the mission to make life multiplanetary is to marginalise urgent, vital discussions concerning colonial reckoning, environmental reconciliation, and the redistribution of extreme wealth disparities.

Disabilities, shared capitalism, and wealth: evidence from health and retirement survey

ABSTRACT Does shared capitalism help to mitigate the economic effects of disability? Employee ownership and profit sharing are linked to higher incomes and wealth for workers, while disability is strongly linked to lower incomes, but there has been no prior research on their overlapping effects. Using household-level panel data from Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) restricted to households with at least one earner, we provide exploratory results on the relationships among disability, shared capitalism, and wealth. We find that: 1) disability households have lower mean and median wealth (one-third to one-half lower than non-disability households using the most comprehensive disability measure); 2) disability households are less likely to participate in shared capitalism (only three-fourths as likely as non-disability households using the most comprehensive disability measure); 3) shared capitalism is linked to a greater increase in wealth for disability households than for non-disability households, but disability wealth gaps remain even when shared capitalism is available. While we cannot make strong causal claims, these findings suggest that shared capitalism may play a positive role in wealth-building for people both with and without disabilities, and help to mitigate some of the economic disadvantages faced by people with disabilities.

Delaying retirement, income distribution and economic growth

In order to investigate whether postponing retirement age contributes to fostering shared prosperity, we develop a dynamic general equilibrium model incorporating delayed retirement dynamics alongside survival probabilities and heterogeneous human capital distribution across generations. This framework provides a comprehensive assessment regarding how postponing retirement age policies affect both income inequality and economic growth dimensions. Theoretical analysis reveals disparities between low- and high-income group investments in their offspring's education as well as savings behavior. Specifically observed are heightened educational investments by lower income households compared to their affluent counterparts leading to relatively accelerated growth rates for lower income family offsprings' human capital; consequently narrowing intergenerational wealth gaps thus mitigating overall income inequalities. Furthermore,the influence exerted by postponed retirements upon economic expansion hinges largely upon its relative impacts on household educational investments vis-a-vis parental human capital accumulation.Finally, numerical simulations demonstrate that within plausible parameter ranges, pushing back retirements could indeed stimulate economic advancement.

Retirement preparedness: A study of gender, marital status, and motivation factors by using a theory of planned behavior model

Although working men and women share common retirement concerns, women encounter unique challenges in securing their retirement. These challenges arise from factors such as part-time work, intermittent work histories, and potential wealth disparities. Marital status also exerts a profound influence on retirement decisions. Marital status significantly impacts their financial security as they approach retirement. This study investigates the intricate relationship between gender, marital status, and theory of planned behavior factors that influence retirement planning among older adults. Utilizing data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and RAND, the research analyzed 2,657 participants aged 50 to 62, all of whom reported full or part-time employment. Also, the research leveraged the theory of planned behavior to examine motivational factors affecting retirement planning. The study’s findings highlight the significant association of gender with expected retirement timing, revealing that married women typically anticipate retiring earlier than both unmarried women and men. In addition, older adults who secure retirement resources tend to retire earlier. It is important to develop tailored policies and initiatives to address the specific retirement challenges women face. It is imperative to develop retirement support systems that consider the gender, marital statuses, and retirement resources of older adults, and to give special attention to those who are vulnerable. This study provides valuable insights into the intricate interplay of gender, marital status, retirement motivation factors and retirement planning among older adults.

Teaching discrimination in introductory economics: An approach incorporating stratification economics

The authors of this article describe how instructors can incorporate stratification economics (SE) into coverage of discrimination in introductory economics. SE is an economics subfield that provides a framework for understanding how collective action to maintain relative group position can create and sustain economic inequality. They illustrate how to modify Becker’s employer discrimination model to incorporate collective action by identity groups and demonstrate the use of game theory to help students understand the formation and maintenance of group identity. Finally, they show how instructors can use discussion of the racial wealth gap as an opportunity for students to apply elements of the SE framework. Introducing a more relatable and relevant discussion of discrimination and inequality can deepen students’ appreciation for and understanding of economic theory.

Insect herbivory on Acer rubrum varies across income and urbanization gradients in the D.C. metropolitan area

Urbanization has increased wealth disparity within the United States, impacting the urban landscape and species interactions. In particular, the interactions between street trees and the arthropod communities that live among them may be modified by both human population densities across urban to suburban locations, as well as income levels within these areas. We examined the effect of land use type (urban vs. suburban) and median household income on variation in leaf damage and arthropod abundance of red maples (Acer rubrum) in the District of Columbia metropolitan region. We compared these levels of leaf damage to rates observed in a nearby temperate deciduous forest. We predicted leaf damage would be positively correlated with urbanization (forested < suburban < urban) and negatively correlated with neighborhood income level (low > medium > high). Instead, we observed higher levels of leaf damage on trees in the forest environment compared to the urban and suburban areas. Leaves from urban medium and high-income areas were less likely to exhibit herbivore damage than those from suburban areas. Of the leaves with damage, those in urban high-income and suburban low-income areas exhibited the most leaf area missing. These trends may be related to specific factors associated with urbanization and income level, such as impervious surface coverage and tree coverage. This study highlights differences in biotic interactions across individual neighborhoods and the importance of including socio-economic variables when examining species interactions in urban environments.

Bridging the Wealth Gap

In this opinion piece supported by empirical studies, the author will argue the significance of educating women on financial literacy, asserting its pivotal role in enhancing outcomes for both physicians and the healthcare systems within which they operate. It is well-documented that financial strain correlates with burnout among physicians and trainees, resulting in substantial losses in productivity amounting to millions of dollars. It is postulated that fostering financial empowerment in women may serve as a strategic intervention to mitigate stressors and consequently ameliorate overall well-being within the medical institutions.