Accounting for Black-White wealth gaps: Earnings, demographics, and rates of return by John Jones

Join us for the latest Applied Economics and Macroeconomics Research Seminar Series event, Autumn Term 2024.

Join John Jones, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, will present this week's seminar on Accounting for Black-White wealth gaps: Earnings, demographics, and rates of return.

Abstract

We document Black-White wealth gaps across the wealth distribution and over the entire life cycle. Our rich life-cycle model quantifies the contributions of a broad array of forces to these gaps. Differences in Black-White employment rates are major contributors to the mean and the median wealth gap. Earnings conditional on employment, on the other hand, matter mostly at the mean. Differences in financial rates of return amplify both the mean and median gap. All else equal, a setting where Black individuals had the same employment rates as their White counterparts would contain far fewer individuals with no net worth.

The seminar will begin with a presentation and will end with a Q and A session.

It will be held in the Economics Common Room at 1.30pm on Tuesday 29 October. This event is open to all levels of study and is also open to the public. To register your place and gain access to the webinar, please contact the seminar organisers.

This event is part of the Applied Economics Research Seminar Series.