I wonder too about savings/investing rates. I have family members who drive old cars and retire early while others have the latest model every year and don't think about retirement planning at all
This is a well-documented huge difference culturally between groups... Expensive jewelry fancy cars hair and makeup the latest sneaker from Nike the list can go on. Different groups place different preferences on where they spend their money... If you look at some of the stats that are referenced by this letter you can even see it inside the numbers and of course no one's mentioning it because it's inconvenient...
Interestingly, in the Darity talk I mentioned above, he is asked that very question. It's at the 50-minute mark. (If you search for "Darity Brown 2016," it should be your top return. There is a purple backdrop.) His answer was odd, it seemed to me. He said, roughly, If you control for household income, that blacks actually have a slightly higher savings rate than whites. After a moment of reflection, it occurred to me that if you control for household income (and some other key factors), you can also make his claim of wealth inequality disappear.
I watched TGS episode with David Kaiser more closely this morning, and I was amused by something Glenn said. First, my complaint yesterday was that Darity (and others) did not consider age in their wealth analyses. I could only find charts with broad ranges, but Under 35 is vastly lower than 35-45, as it's difficult to accumulate wealth when young and first starting out. By the way, the only reason this age/wealth matter entered my mind while watching Darity was that Coleman Hughes had mentioned it on one of his podcasts.
Which brings me to Glenn's remark. Watching Darity, I gave him much credit for using median rather than average. Yes, yes, that's fair, I thought, That's the way to do it. Then, today, I hear Glenn explain why using median -- in this situation where the bottom half have, more or less, zero wealth accumulation -- is another trick. I had to replay Glenn's remarks a couple of times before I caught on. I laughed at patting my own back for catching one bit of subterfuge -- while completely falling for another.
Thanks for this....interesting behavioral data findings he cites. I think the metric that is most disturbing is the lack of any savings across all demo's compared to other countries.
I wonder too about savings/investing rates. I have family members who drive old cars and retire early while others have the latest model every year and don't think about retirement planning at all
This is a well-documented huge difference culturally between groups... Expensive jewelry fancy cars hair and makeup the latest sneaker from Nike the list can go on. Different groups place different preferences on where they spend their money... If you look at some of the stats that are referenced by this letter you can even see it inside the numbers and of course no one's mentioning it because it's inconvenient...
Interestingly, in the Darity talk I mentioned above, he is asked that very question. It's at the 50-minute mark. (If you search for "Darity Brown 2016," it should be your top return. There is a purple backdrop.) His answer was odd, it seemed to me. He said, roughly, If you control for household income, that blacks actually have a slightly higher savings rate than whites. After a moment of reflection, it occurred to me that if you control for household income (and some other key factors), you can also make his claim of wealth inequality disappear.
I watched TGS episode with David Kaiser more closely this morning, and I was amused by something Glenn said. First, my complaint yesterday was that Darity (and others) did not consider age in their wealth analyses. I could only find charts with broad ranges, but Under 35 is vastly lower than 35-45, as it's difficult to accumulate wealth when young and first starting out. By the way, the only reason this age/wealth matter entered my mind while watching Darity was that Coleman Hughes had mentioned it on one of his podcasts.
Which brings me to Glenn's remark. Watching Darity, I gave him much credit for using median rather than average. Yes, yes, that's fair, I thought, That's the way to do it. Then, today, I hear Glenn explain why using median -- in this situation where the bottom half have, more or less, zero wealth accumulation -- is another trick. I had to replay Glenn's remarks a couple of times before I caught on. I laughed at patting my own back for catching one bit of subterfuge -- while completely falling for another.
Thanks for this....interesting behavioral data findings he cites. I think the metric that is most disturbing is the lack of any savings across all demo's compared to other countries.