GEOWEALTH-US: Spatial wealth inequality data for the United States, 1960-2020

Wealth inequality has been sharply rising in the United States and across many other high-income countries. Due to a lack of data, we know little about how this trend has unfolded across locations within countries. Investigating this subnational geography of wealth is crucial, as from one generation to the next, wealth powerfully shapes opportunity and disadvantage across individuals and communities. Using machine-learning-based imputation to link newly assembled national historical surveys conducted by the U.S. Federal Reserve to population survey microdata, the data presented in this paper addresses this gap. The Geographic Wealth Inequality Database ("GEOWEALTH-US") provides the first estimates of the level and distribution of wealth at various geographical scales within the United States from 1960 to 2020. The GEOWEALTH-US database enables new lines investigation into the contribution of inter-regional wealth patterns to major societal challenges including wealth concentration, spatial income inequality, equality of opportunity, housing unaffordability, and political polarization.<br>

美国及诸多其他高收入国家的财富不平等问题正急剧加剧。受限于数据匮乏，我们对各国国内各区域的该趋势演变情况知之甚少。探究财富的次国家尺度地理分布格局至关重要，因为代际之间，财富深刻形塑了个体与社区的发展机遇与处境劣势。本文采用基于机器学习的插补（machine-learning-based imputation）方法，将美国联邦储备委员会（U.S. Federal Reserve）新汇编的全国历史调查数据与人口调查微观数据进行关联，从而填补了这一研究空白。地理财富不平等数据库（Geographic Wealth Inequality Database，简称GEOWEALTH-US）提供了1960年至2020年间美国境内不同地理尺度下的财富水平与分布情况的首批估算结果。GEOWEALTH-US数据库为研究区域间财富格局对诸多重大社会挑战的贡献开辟了新路径，这些挑战包括财富集中、空间收入不平等、机会均等、住房负担能力不足以及政治极化。