Impact of the 2008 Recession on Wealth-Adjusted Income and Inequality for U.S. Cohorts.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine the distributional effects of the 2008 recession and subsequent recovery across generational cohorts.

Methods

Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (2007-2016), we constructed a measure of economic well-being accounting for income, household size, and annuitized value of assets. We examine trajectories of adjusted income and inequality, using Gini coefficients and income shares by decile, for the overall population and by cohort during the recession and recovery.

Results

Inequality declined temporarily during the recession, but reached new highs during the recovery. During recovery, population-level increases in economic resources were not reflected among below-median households, as the more concentrated financial assets rose while broad

SUBMITTER: Zewde N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9122750 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature