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Title: The Racial Structure of Economic Inequality in the United States: Understanding Change and Continuity in an Era of Great Divergence"

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2016

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Abstract: The great divergence of America's rich from its middle class and poor has led some observers to see a country increasingly stratified by income and wealth, more so than by race. In this article, the first in a two-part series, we argue that this conclusion overlooks the persistent importance of the racial structure of inequality. A decomposition of income inequality between 1980 and 2010 using the Theil Index shows that inequality between racial groups accounts for a rising share of total income inequality over this period nationally and in most states. We also demonstrate that within-state trends in the between-race component of inequality are not fully accounted for by trends in income inequality and racial diversity per se. These findings lay the groundwork for a forthcoming companion piece in Social Science Quarterly that shows that between-race inequality is strongly linked to welfare policy outcomes in the United States.

Url: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ssqu.12327/full

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Authors: Hero, Rodney E; Levy, Morris E

Periodical (Full): Social Science Quarterly

Issue: 3

Volume: 97

Pages: 491-504

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Poverty and Welfare, Race and Ethnicity

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