IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v650y2013i1p98-123.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wealth Disparities Before and After the Great Recession

Author

Listed:
  • Fabian T. Pfeffer
  • Sheldon Danziger
  • Robert F. Schoeni

Abstract

The collapse of the labor, housing, and stock markets beginning in 2007 created unprecedented challenges for American families. This study examines disparities in wealth holdings leading up to the Great Recession and during the first years of the recovery. All socioeconomic groups experienced declines in wealth following the recession, with higher wealth families experiencing larger absolute declines. In percentage terms, however, the declines were greater for less advantaged groups as measured by minority status, education, and prerecession income and wealth, leading to a substantial rise in wealth inequality in just a few years. Despite large changes in wealth, longitudinal analyses demonstrate little change in mobility in the ranking of particular families in the wealth distribution. Between 2007 and 2011, one-fourth of American families lost at least 75 percent of their wealth, and more than half of all families lost at least 25 percent of their wealth. Multivariate longitudinal analyses document that these large relative losses were disproportionally concentrated among lower-income, less educated, and minority households.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabian T. Pfeffer & Sheldon Danziger & Robert F. Schoeni, 2013. "Wealth Disparities Before and After the Great Recession," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 650(1), pages 98-123, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:650:y:2013:i:1:p:98-123
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716213497452
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716213497452
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716213497452?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anders Klevmarken, & Joseph P. Lupton & Frank P. Stafford, 2003. "Wealth Dynamics in the 1980s and 1990s: Sweden and the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(2).
    2. Edward N. Wolff, 2007. "Recent Trends in Household Wealth in the United States: Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeeze," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_502, Levy Economics Institute.
    3. Juster, F. Thomas & Smith, James P. & Stafford, Frank, 1999. "The measurement and structure of household wealth," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 253-275, June.
    4. Solon, Gary, 1992. "Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 393-408, June.
    5. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2011. "House Prices, Home Equity-Based Borrowing, and the US Household Leverage Crisis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2132-2156, August.
    6. Thomas Bridges & Frank Stafford, 2012. "At the Corner of Main and Wall Street: Family Pension Responses to Liquidity Change and Perceived Returns," Working Papers wp282, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    7. Barry Bosworth, 2012. "Economic Consequences of the Great Recession: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2012-4, Center for Retirement Research, revised Feb 2012.
    8. Hilary Hoynes & Douglas L. Miller & Jessamyn Schaller, 2012. "Who Suffers during Recessions?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 27-48, Summer.
    9. Keister,Lisa A., 2000. "Wealth in America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521627511.
    10. Keister,Lisa A., 2000. "Wealth in America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521621687.
    11. Edward N. Wolff, 2010. "Recent Trends in Household Wealth in the United States-- Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeeze--An Update to 2007," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_589, Levy Economics Institute.
    12. William R. Emmons & Bryan J. Noeth, 2012. "Household financial stability: who suffered the most from the crisis?," The Regional Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Jul.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    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. Shiqi Jiang & Lingli Qi & Xinyue Lin, 2022. "The Impacts of COVID-19 Shock on Intergenerational Income Mobility: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Dorina Cadar & Laura Brocklebank & Li Yan & Yaohui Zhao & Andrew Steptoe & James M Raymo, 2023. "Socioeconomic and Contextual Differentials in Memory Decline: A Cross-Country Investigation Between England and China," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 78(3), pages 544-555.
    4. Filip Chybalski, 2022. "Intergenerational income distribution before and after the great recession: winners and losers," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 49(3), pages 311-327, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Schäfer, Dorothea & Stephan, Andreas & Weser, Henriette, 2023. "Crisis stress for the diversity of financial portfolios — evidence from European households," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 330-347.
    7. Jermaine Toney, 2022. "Is there wealth stability across generations in the U.S.? Evidence from panel study, 1984–2017," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 551-567, October.
    8. María Alonso-Ferres & Ginés Navarro-Carrillo & Marta Garrido-Macías & Eva Moreno-Bella & Inmaculada Valor-Segura, 2020. "Connecting perceived economic threat and prosocial tendencies: The explanatory role of empathic concern," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-25, May.
    9. Tran, My & Gannon, Brenda & Rose, Christiern, 2023. "The effect of housing wealth on older adults’ health care utilization: Evidence from fluctuations in the U.S. housing market," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Elena Gouskova & Ngina Chiteji & Frank Stafford, 2010. "Pension Participation: Do Parents Transmit Time Preference?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 138-150, June.
    3. Aboohamidi, Abbas & Chidmi, Benaissa, 2015. "Changes in the Wealth of American Households during the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis in the U.S," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205451, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Schüssler, Reinhard & Funke, Claudia, 2002. "Vermögensbildung und Vermögensverteilung: Der Prozess der Vermögensbildung und die Vermögensverteilung bei den Privaten Haushalten in Deutschland. Analyse und Zukunftsszenarien," Study / edition der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf, volume 74, number 74, June.
    5. David Brady & Marco Giesselmann & Ulrich Kohler & Anke Radenacker, 2018. "How to measure and proxy permanent income: evidence from Germany and the U.S," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(3), pages 321-345, September.
    6. Fabian T. Pfeffer, 2018. "Growing Wealth Gaps in Education," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 1033-1068, June.
    7. Stefan Humer & Mathias Moser & Matthias Schnetzer, 2015. "Socioeconomic structures of the Austrian wealth distribution," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(2), pages 269-289, May.
    8. Robert Mare, 2011. "A Multigenerational View of Inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(1), pages 1-23, February.
    9. Robert Pollin & James Heintz, 2013. "Study of U.S. Financial System," FESSUD studies fstudy10, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    10. Jon D. Wisman & Barton Baker, 2011. "Increasing Inequality and the Financial Crises of 1929 and 2008," Working Papers 2011-01 JEL classificatio, American University, Department of Economics.
    11. Nam, Yunju & Huang, Jin, 2009. "Equal opportunity for all? Parental economic resources and children's educational attainment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 625-634, June.
    12. Martti Kaila & Emily Nix & Krista Riukula, 2021. "Disparate Impacts of Job Loss by Parental Income and Implications for Intergenerational Mobility," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 53, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    13. Till Treeck, 2014. "Did Inequality Cause The U.S. Financial Crisis?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 421-448, July.
    14. Pedro R. D. Bom & Aitor Goti, 2018. "Public Capital and the Labor Income Share," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, October.
    15. Meta Brown & Andrew F. Haughwout & Donghoon Lee & Wilbert Van der Klaauw, 2011. "Do we know what we owe? A comparison of borrower- and lender-reported consumer debt," Staff Reports 523, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    16. Paula Almeida & Eunice Ramos Lopes & Celio Goncalo Marques & Jorge Simoes & Fatima Pedro, 2017. "The dynamization of Higher Education Institutions for the creation of Tourism Companies in Portugal," Tourism Research Institute, Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 17(1), pages 106-118, June.
    17. Michelle Maroto, 2018. "Saving, Sharing, or Spending? The Wealth Consequences of Raising Children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2257-2282, December.
    18. Brian C. Cadena & Brian K. Kovak, 2016. "Immigrants Equilibrate Local Labor Markets: Evidence from the Great Recession," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 257-290, January.
    19. Wim Naudé, 2007. "Peace, Prosperity, and Pro-Growth Entrepreneurship," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2007-02, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Xiaoqing Zhou, 2018. "Home Equity Extraction and the Boom-Bust Cycle in Consumption and Residential Investment," Staff Working Papers 18-6, Bank of Canada.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    wealth; assets; inequality; income; race;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:650:y:2013:i:1:p:98-123. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.