#  5 Big Ideas in Inequality: The Racial Wealth Gap - VI 

 



##  Highlights

   ![William A. Darity Jr.](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/inequality/files/wk6daritya1a.jpg?itok=80Id6lhm) 

 

IDEA 1####  Reparations for Black American descendants of US slavery

   
**William A. Darity Jr.**  
Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy,  
African and African American Studies, and Economics  
Duke University

Sort    "The Black American population descended from US slavery possesses about 2.5% of the nation's wealth but constitutes about 13% of the nation's population.

 This disparity results in a situation that would require an additional $10 to $12 trillion to bring the Black share of wealth into proportion with the Black share of the population."

 

 



Sort    [   ![From Here to Equality, by William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/inequality/files/daritybkthree-quarter.jpg?itok=ZyP2sut5) 

 ](https://uncpress.org/book/9781469654973/from-here-to-equality/) 

  "In fact, we argue \[in **[From Here to Equality](https://uncpress.org/book/9781469654973/from-here-to-equality/)**\], that there's probably no other way to eliminate that racial wealth disparity but by adopting a program as dramatic as a reparations initiative.  
  
Indirect measures or universal programs of a variety of types are simply not going to meet the bill."

 

 



Sort   ####  

####  [From Here to Equality](https://uncpress.org/book/9781469654973/from-here-to-equality/) 

   
**[Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century](https://uncpress.org/book/9781469654973/from-here-to-equality/)**

 By William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen  
University of North Carolina Press, 2020.

 

  [   ![From Here to Equality, by William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/inequality/files/daritybk20_500px.jpg?itok=TyzdQS14) 

 ](https://uncpress.org/book/9781469654973/from-here-to-equality/) 

 



   ![Vicki L. Bogan](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/inequality/files/wk6bogana3a.jpg?itok=Gs0KW182) 

 

IDEA 2####  Wealth and health

   
**Vicki L. Bogan**  
Associate Professor  
Geller Family Professor of Applied Economics and Management  
Charles H.. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management  
Cornell University

   ![Vicki L. Bogan slide](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/inequality/files/wk6boganb2.jpg?itok=Dviw0RBc) 

 

Sort    "COVID has exposed a crucial often underemphasized nexus in the racial wealth gap discussion: the link between household finance and health."

 

 



   ![Fenaba R. Addo](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/inequality/files/wk6addoa1a.jpg?itok=VDkUDVjx) 

 

IDEA 3####  Breaking the chain  
Wealth inequality and postsecondary education 

   
**Fenaba R. Addo**  
Lorna Jorgensen Wendt Associate Professor of Money, Relationships, and Equality (MORE), School of Human Ecology  
University of Wisconsin-Madison

   ![Fenaba R. Addo slide](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/inequality/files/wk6addob2.jpg?itok=id7Wv4u9) 

 

Sort    "In 2019 households headed by a Black college graduate had lower median wealth than white households headed by someone with less than a high school degree.

 We find that compositionally racial inequalities in student loan debt account for a substantial portion of the Black-White wealth gap in young adulthood. If Black young adults had the same debt burden as whites, the racial wealth gap would decrease by approximately 10.5%."

 

 



   ![Stephen M. LaFata](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/inequality/files/wk6lafataa1a.jpg?itok=09gpoiW3) 

 

IDEA 4####  The supply problem  
Resolving the communication barrier

   
**Stephen M. LaFata**  
First Vice President, Paradigm Group  
Private Wealth Management  
UBS Financial Services

   ![Stephen LaFata slides](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/inequality/files/wk6lafatab1.jpg?itok=I9St8677) 

 

   ![Peter Q. Blair](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/inequality/files/wk6blaira8a.jpg?itok=QBUmDdRZ) 

 

DISCUSSION  
   
**Peter Q. Blair**  
Assistant Professor of Education  
Co-Director of the Project on Workforce  
Harvard University   ![Peter Q. Blair](/sites/g/files/omnuum5566/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/inequality/files/wk6blaira3.jpg?itok=kkvCzxF6) 

 



 

  

 



 

 

 

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####  THIS WEEK: THE RACIAL WEALTH GAP | NOV 30 2020

#####    
00:00 | Opening discussion - Peter Q. Blair and panelists  
20:06 | Idea 1 - William A. Darity Jr.  
28:47 | Idea 2 - Vicki L. Bogan  
40:33 | Idea 3 - Fenaba Addo  
46:47 | Idea 4 - Stephen M. LaFata  
53:49 | Q&A - Peter Q. Blair