Thread by @AlsoACarpenter

Because this book is so good, and this chapter is a must read, here is part 3 from chapter 2 in Darity's book (see QT below for part 2):

Chapter 2.3:

"Some have suggested that the racial wealth gap is explained by black profligacy: blacks’ unwillingness to commit to a 1/

https://twitter.com/AlsoACarpenter/status/1337448291462594561

2/ "careful plan of saving and blacks’ ignorance about proper investment practices. A virtual cottage industry has developed to provide 'financial literacy' to black families. But it is striking that there is very little, if any, evidence to support the claim that black saving

3/ "behavior is the source of the enormous racial wealth gap.[15]

"If we consider black and white families with similar income levels, we discover no significant difference in savings rates, nor a difference in rates of return on their personal investments. In fact, in some

4/ "income categories, blacks display a higher rate of savings. Somehow, blacks manage to have a savings profile comparable to whites with similar income levels, despite the fact that blacks have more kin obligation because their relatives are more likely to be in need than those

5/ "of comparably situated whites. These family obligations reduce the total income available for saving and wealth building. Nevertheless, the black savings rate is comparable to the white savings rate at each level of household income.[16]

6/ "Nor do differences in family structure provide headway in explaining black-white wealth inequality. Single white women with children have as high a median net worth as black women with no children. Single white parents have more than two times the wealth ($35,000), at the

7/ "median, of married black parents ($16,000). The professed economic benefits associated with having the 'ideal' family type do not translate into closure of the racial wealth gap. Being a “stable,” married, two-parent black family far from evens black and white wealth

8/ "levels.[17]

"Furthermore, there are vast differences in wealth between black and white women. For example, older (over sixty years of age) single black women with a bachelor’s degree have a median net worth of about $11,000, while single white women with a college degree,

9/ "in the same age range, have $384,000 in median net worth. Single mothers have negligible wealth, but the racial difference still is palpable: white single mothers have a median net worth of $3,000, but black single mothers have a median net worth of zero.[18]

10/ "While young adult (twenty- to twenty-nine-year-old) single white women who have completed college have a median net worth of $3,400, single black women of a similar age and level of education have a median net worth of negative $11,000.[19] A report on the racial wealth gap

11/ "from Prosperity Now concludes: 'The greatest socio-economic disparities for most women of color are rooted in racial inequality, which is then worsened by smaller but significant gendered disparities. It follows that, within the most economically disenfranchised racial and

12/ "ethnic groups, such as Blacks and Latinos, gendered disparities are usually much smaller than among Whites. African American women and Latinas experience greater gender economic equality within their racial and ethnic groups. However, this parity is more an equality in

14/ "economic disenfranchisement than an equality in economic wellbeing.[20]

"The belief that blacks lack motivation and effort is contradicted by the evidence on racial differences in educational attainment. For comparable levels of family socioeconomic status, black youth

15/ "obtain more years of schooling and credentials, including college degrees, than white youth.[21] Moreover, unfortunately, motivation and effort are not enough to close the black-white wealth gap. Data from both the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the Survey

16/ "of Consumer Finances provides the facts.

"Black household heads with a college or university degree have about $10,000 less in median net worth than white household heads who never completed high school. Blacks who are working full-time have a lower median net worth than

17/ "whites who are unemployed. Blacks in the third quintile of the income distribution have similar levels of median wealth as whites in the lowest quintile.[22] That means that, on average, blacks whose incomes were about $60,000 in 2014 had a level of median wealth of about

18/18 "$22,000, while whites whose incomes were less than $26,000 had a median wealth of about $18,000. Blacks in the lowest quintile had a median wealth of a paltry $200.[23]"

More to come on Monday, specifically on generational wealth transfer!