Project
Last compiled on: 2022-07-02
Racial Wealth Gap
Synopsis
Problem: Racial wealth inequality has not decreased over the last 50 years, and the gap is still very large. This gap persists due to inequities in wealth, income, education, among others, and are largely attributable to decades of institutionalized and systemic racism. The purpose of this analysis is to explore racial wealth trends from 1963 to 2016 and analyze the gaps.
Packages Required:
library(tidyverse)
library(knitr)
library(kableExtra)
library(scales)
library(plotly)
library(xfun)
library(ggtext)
library(grid)
library(gridExtra)
library(gridtext)Data Preparation
Data Import
The 10 datasets originally pulled from the Urban Institute and US Census.
Retrievable from this Github Repo.lifetime_earn <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/lifetime_earn.csv')student_debt <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/student_debt.csv')retirement <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/retirement.csv')home_owner <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/home_owner.csv')race_wealth <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/race_wealth.csv')income_time <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_time.csv')income_limits <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_limits.csv')income_aggregate <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_aggregate.csv')income_distribution <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_distribution.csv')income_mean <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2021/2021-02-09/income_mean.csv')Data Dictionary
lifetime_earn.csv (Source:):
Average lifetime earning by race/gender
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| gender | character | gender column |
| race | character | Racial group |
| lifetime_earn | numeric | Lifetime earnings |
student_dept.csv (Source):
Average family student load debt for aged 25-55, by race and year normalized to 2016 dollars.
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| year | numeric | Year of measure |
| race | character | Racial group |
| loan_debt | numeric | Loan dept |
| loan_debt_pct | numeric | Share of families with student loan dept |
retirement.csv (Source):
Average family liquid retirement savings normalized to 2016 dollars.
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| year | numeric | Year |
| race | character | Racial group |
| retirement | numeric | Retirement dollars |
home_owner.csv (Source):
Home ownership percentage for families.
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| year | numeric | Year |
| race | character | Racial group |
| home_owner_pct | numeric | Home ownership by race/ethnicity |
race_wealth.csv (Source):
Family wealth by race/year/measure normalized to 2016, with measures of
central tendency with mean and median.
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| type | character | Type of measure, either median or mean |
| year | numeric | Year |
| race | character | Racial group |
| wealth_family | numeric | Family wealth |
income_time.csv (Source):
Family-level income by percentile and year.
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| year | numeric | Year |
| percentile | character | Income percentile (10th, 50th, 90th) |
| income_family | numeric | Familial income |
income_limits.csv (Source):
Familial income limits for each fifth and top 5% of households by year
and race.
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| year | numeric | Year |
| race | character | Racial group |
| dollar_type | character | Dollars in that year or normalized to 2019 |
| number | numeric | Number of households by racial group |
| income_quintile | character | Income quintile as well as top 5% |
| income_dollars | numeric | Income in US dollars, specific to dollar type |
income_aggregate.csv (Source):
Share of aggregate income received by each fifth and top 5% of each
racial group/household.
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| year | numeric | Year |
| race | character | Racial group |
| number | numeric | Number of households by racial group |
| income_quintile | character | Income quintile and/or top 5% |
| income_share | numeric | Income share as a percentage |
income_distribution.csv (Source):
Households by total money income, race, and hispanic origin of
householder separated by year and income groups.
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| year | numeric | Year |
| race | character | Racial group |
| number | numeric | Number of households |
| income_median | numeric | Income median |
| income_med_moe | numeric | Income median margin of error |
| income_mean | numeric | Income mean |
| income_mean_moe | numeric | Income mean margin of error |
| income_bracket | character | Income bracket (9 total brackets between <$15,000 and >$200,000 |
| income_distribution | numeric | Income distribution as the percentage of each year/racial group - should add up to 100 for a specific year and race |
income_mean.csv (Source):
Mean income received by each fifth and top 5% of each racial group.
| Variable Name | Data Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| year | numeric | Year |
| race | character | Racial group |
| dollar_type | character | Dollar type, i.e. dollar relative to that year or normalized to 2019 |
| income_quintile | character | Income quintile and/or top 5% |
| income_dollars | numeric | Income dollar average |
Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)
Family Wealth Analysis
Average family wealth (1963-2016)
Family wealth a a family’s assets (i.e., savings, real estate,
businesses) minus debt. Average wealth is indicative of the prosperity
of a group as a whole in relation to other groups.
In 1963, the average wealth of white families was $121,129, which is
6.2 times greater than the average wealth of non-white
families of $19,503. In 2016, White average wealth of $919,336 was
6.6 times greater than Black average wealth of
$139,523. This gap trend has slowly widened over time, highlighting the
growing disparities.
Income Analysis
Lifetime Earnings
Those with lesser incomes might find it more difficult to save.
The average lifetime income of a white male is $2.7 million, compared to $1.8 million for black men and $2.0 million for Hispanic men. For women, the disparity in lifetime earnings is less pronounced: the average white woman makes $1.5 million, compared to $1.3 million for black women and $1.1 million for Hispanic women. Part of these differences can be attributed to historical disadvantages that still have an impact on future generations.