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> “A relatively small group of parents – mostly white – control the lion’s share of the wealth available to children,” the authors conclude. > "Wealth is calcu

> “A relatively small group of parents – mostly white – control the lion’s share of the wealth available to children,” the authors conclude. > "Wealth is calculated by aggregating a family’s assets and subtracting from it their debts. The median for white families largely consists of the value of the homes they own minus mortgages, with additional wealth coming from savings and inheritance." There's enormous racial inequality, but if your study attributes most of the difference in "wealth available to children" to "home value" you're not making reasonable measurements-- that wealth isn't available to any children. On the other hand, living in a nice (or even not crime-ridden) neighborhood gives a lot of advantages, but we already know that from zip code data. Maybe the actual point being made is that the nicer neighborhoods are much less available to minorities?

cratermoon 5y ago
Home ownership is a good measure in the US. It's how most families create generational wealth and the effects of decades of redlining mean that minorities don't have much value in their homes. It's not that nicer neighborhoods are much less available to minorities, it's that minority neighborhoods have historically been not nice.
x86_64Ubuntu 5y ago
>...Maybe the actual point being made is that the nicer neighborhoods are much less available to minorities? This just serves to decenter the discussion from the racial aspect of it. No one legitimately thinks the financial and social standings of the parents don't cascade to the children. In addition, entrance into nicer neighborhoods depends on capital, which by law was denied to minority groups. And should those groups acquire the necessary capital to move into a nicer neighborhood, covenants and redlining ensured that would never happen.

cratermoon 5y ago

Home ownership is a good measure in the US. It's how most families create generational wealth and the effects of decades of redlining mean that minorities don't have much value in their homes. It's not that nicer neighborhoods are much less available to minorities, it's that minority neighborhoods have historically been not nice.

x86_64Ubuntu 5y ago

>...Maybe the actual point being made is that the nicer neighborhoods are much less available to minorities? This just serves to decenter the discussion from the racial aspect of it. No one legitimately thinks the financial and social standings of the parents don't cascade to the children. In addition, entrance into nicer neighborhoods depends on capital, which by law was denied to minority groups. And should those groups acquire the necessary capital to move into a nicer neighborhood, covenants and redlining ensured that would never happen.