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Disparities in Wealth Accumulation and Loss from the Great Recession and Beyond

Author

Listed:
  • Signe-Mary McKernan
  • Caroline Ratcliffe
  • Eugene Steuerle
  • Sisi Zhang

Abstract

Using over two decades of Survey of Consumer Finances data and a pseudo-panel technique, we measure the impact of the Great Recession on US family wealth relative to the counterfactual of what wealth would have been given wealth accumulation trajectories. Our synthetic cohort-level models find that the Great Recession reduced average family wealth by 28.5 percent–nearly double the magnitude of previous pre-post mean descriptive estimates and double the magnitude of any previous recession since the 1980s. The housing market was only part of the story; all major wealth components fell as a result of the Great Recession.

Suggested Citation

  • Signe-Mary McKernan & Caroline Ratcliffe & Eugene Steuerle & Sisi Zhang, 2014. "Disparities in Wealth Accumulation and Loss from the Great Recession and Beyond," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 240-244, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:104:y:2014:i:5:p:240-44
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.5.240
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Edward N. Wolff, 2022. "African‐American and Hispanic Income, Wealth and Homeownership since 1989," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(1), pages 189-233, March.
    2. Nathan Seltzer, 2019. "Beyond the Great Recession: Labor Market Polarization and Ongoing Fertility Decline in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1463-1493, August.
    3. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Cristina Borra, 2018. "Emerging wealth disparities after the storm: Evidence from Spain," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1119-1149, December.
    4. Zhang Sisi & Feng Shuaizhang, 2017. "Understanding the Unequal Post-Great Recession Wealth Recovery for American Families," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 1-18, October.
    5. Olga Gorbachev & Brendan O'Flaherty & Rajiv Sethi, 2016. "An Ethnic Roller Coaster: Disparate Impacts of the Housing Boom and Bust," Working Papers 16-04, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    6. Mommaerts, Corina & Truskinovsky, Yulya, 2020. "The cyclicality of informal care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Ryan Compton & Daniel Giedeman & Leslie Muller, 2018. "Racial Differentials in the Wealth Effects of the Financial Crisis and Great Recession," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 126-141, September.
    8. David M. Cutler & Noémie Sportiche, 2022. "Economic Crises and Mental Health: Effects of the Great Recession on Older Americans," NBER Working Papers 29817, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Valentina Duque & Natasha V Pilkauskas & Irwin Garfinkel, 2018. "Assets among low-income families in the Great Recession," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-21, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises

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