1. Monetary Policy and Racial Inequality
- Author:
- Alina Bartscher, Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick, and Paul Wachtel
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The racial tensions that spread across the United States in 2020 have caught the attention of monetary policymakers and focused concern on the size and persistence of the gap between both the income and wealth of black and white households. There is widespread recognition that despite some decline in overt labor market discrimination, gains in educational opportunities, and income growth of black households since the onset of the civil rights movement, the gaps persist and have even grown larger by some measures. According to the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), the median wealth of a white household was $184,390, compared with only $20,730 for the median black household. The typical black household owns only about 11 percent of the wealth of the typical white household. The income gap is smaller but still large; the median income of black households ($38,688) is 58 percent of the median income of white households ($67,196).
- Topic:
- Race, Monetary Policy, Inequality, and Economic Policy
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America