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Cited by 92Intergenerational and Educational Inequality StudiesIncome, Poverty, and InequalityHealth disparities and outcomes

Return to Being Black, Living in the Red: A Race Gap in Wealth That Goes Beyond Social Origins

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Killewald, Alexandra·2013·Demography
DOI 10.1007/s13524-012-0190-0
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Abstract

In the United States, racial disparities in wealth are vast, yet their causes are only partially understood. In Being Black, Living in the Red, Conley (1999) argued that the sociodemographic traits of young blacks and their parents, particularly parental wealth, wholly explain their wealth disadvantage. Using data from the 1980–2009 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I show that this conclusion hinges on the specific sample considered and the treatment of debtors in the sample. I further document that prior research has paid insufficient attention to the possibility of variation in the association between wealth and race at different points of the net worth distribution. Among wealth holders, blacks remain significantly disadvantaged in assets compared with otherwise similar whites. Among debtors, however, young whites hold more debt than otherwise similar blacks. The results suggest that, among young adults, debt may reflect increased access to credit, not simply the absence of assets. The asset disadvantage for black net wealth holders also indicates that research and policy attention should not be focused only on young blacks “living in the red.”

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  • Recent research has begun to consider that both the consequences and the determinants of wealth vary across the wealth distribution.

    “Recent research has begun to consider the possibility that both the consequences (e.g., Friedline et al. 2015, Killewald 2013) and the determinants of wealth vary across the wealth distribution (e.g. Addo & Lichter 2013, Killewald 2013, Maroto 2016).”

    From Wealth Inequality and Accumulation (2017) · cites this paper as Killewald 2013

    The Results (page not provided) show that education, income, and parental wealth have different associations with net worth among wealth holders and debtors, supporting variation in the determinants of wealth. The Introduction describes consequences of wealth generally, but the paper does not establish that those consequences vary across the wealth distribution. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Debt can be misleading as a measure of disadvantage because wealthier families, who are more likely to be white, often have access to strong credit and high amounts of 'good debt' with favorable repayment terms.

    “Notably, however, debt can be misleading, as wealthier families, who are more likely to be white, often have access to strong credit and high amounts of what is coded as 'good debt' (e.g., real estate, property, and vehicles) with favorable repayment terms (Killewald, 2013; Seamster, 2019).”

    From Wealth, Race, and Under-Addressed Financial Need in Federal Student Aid Policy (2025) · cites this paper as Killewald, 2013

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says that debt among young adults can signal access to credit rather than disadvantage, and reports that white net debtors hold more debt than black net debtors. The Race and Wealth section (page unavailable) mentions mortgages and auto debt. But the paper does not establish that these debts have favorable repayment terms or classify them as “good debt”; it says further research is needed to determine whether young white debtors hold more debt associated with future income. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Authors
Killewald, A.
Affiliations
Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Killewald, Alexandra
ORCID
Killewald, Alexandra
Venue
Demography
Publisher
Duke University Press
Published
2013-05-09
Volume
50
Issue
4
Pages
1177-1195
ISSN
  • 0070-3370 (ISSN-L)
  • 1533-7790
DOI
10.1007/s13524-012-0190-0
OpenAlex
W2117605415
Cited by
92
References
40
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 2
FWCI
19.55
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Demography (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Income, Poverty, and Inequality
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
Keywords
racial wealth gap, young adults, household debt, parental wealth, access to credit, Panel Study of Income Dynamics
MeSH terms
Adult, Age Factors, Black or African American, Female, Hispanic or Latino, Humans, Income, Male, Sex Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, United States, Racial Groups

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