TY - JOUR
T1 - The Great Recession and Racial Inequality
T2 - Evidence from Measures of Economic Well-Being
AU - Masterson, Thomas
AU - Zacharias, Ajit
AU - Rios-Avila, Fernando
AU - Wolff, Edward N.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019, Journal of Economic Issues / Association for Evolutionary Economics.
PY - 2019/10/2
Y1 - 2019/10/2
N2 - Abstract: The Great Recession had a tremendous impact on low-income Americans, in particular Black and Latino Americans. The losses in terms of employment and earnings are matched only by the losses in terms of real wealth. In many ways, however, these losses are merely a continuation of trends that have been unfolding for more than two decades. We examine the changes in overall economic well-being and inequality, as well as changes in racial economic inequality during and since the Great Recession. We find that the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being inequality between White and Black households decreased during the Great Recession but since 2010, racial inequality in terms of LIMEW has increased. We find that changes in base income, taxes, and income from non-home wealth during the Great Recession produced declines in overall inequality, while only taxes reduced between-group racial inequality.
AB - Abstract: The Great Recession had a tremendous impact on low-income Americans, in particular Black and Latino Americans. The losses in terms of employment and earnings are matched only by the losses in terms of real wealth. In many ways, however, these losses are merely a continuation of trends that have been unfolding for more than two decades. We examine the changes in overall economic well-being and inequality, as well as changes in racial economic inequality during and since the Great Recession. We find that the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being inequality between White and Black households decreased during the Great Recession but since 2010, racial inequality in terms of LIMEW has increased. We find that changes in base income, taxes, and income from non-home wealth during the Great Recession produced declines in overall inequality, while only taxes reduced between-group racial inequality.
KW - economic well-being
KW - great recession
KW - racial inequality
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U2 - 10.1080/00213624.2019.1664240
DO - 10.1080/00213624.2019.1664240
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85076510225
SN - 0021-3624
VL - 53
SP - 1048
EP - 1069
JO - Journal of Economic Issues
JF - Journal of Economic Issues
IS - 4
ER -