Data and code for: Root Causes of the Racial Wealth Gap: A Critique of the Fed View

In this paper, we address what has been termed “the Fed view,” the Federal Reserve’s model for black-white wealth inequality, articulated in a series of mutually consistent papers making two arguments. First, the Fed view has it that the black-white wealth gap, when measured with an “expanded wealth concept,” is smaller than previously thought. Second, the Fed view has it that the black-white wealth gap is primarily explained by income differences shaped by personal decisions around human capital acquisition, family structure, risk taking, and the legacy of residential segregation.