Projects

American Wealth: The Shifting Nature of Money and Power in Society

Since the Great Recession, and even before, it has been challenging for Americans to accrue wealth. Over the past half century the top 1 percent of income earners have seen their wealth increase sevenfold. Families in the top 10 percent of households have seen five fold increases in wealth. Those in the middle doubled their wealth. And those at the bottom of wealth distribution went from having no wealth to being in debt. Once you throw race into the equation those disparities balloon. We undertook a broad examination of how to understand modern wealth in the United States, and why it's so hard for the average American to get a piece of it.