The Importance of Assets

Abstract

The need to incorporate concern with financial assets into future US social policy designed to alleviate poverty is articulated. It is contended that contemporary scholars have forgotten to include assets in their examinations of social division. Several frameworks in which financial assets have been traditionally acquired & maintained are reviewed, eg, state policy & financial inheritance. A review of relevant literature is performed to illustrate racial differences in asset accumulation in the US. Additional findings are also reported concerning (1) the connection between income, race, & wealth; (2) the relation between age & racial stratification; (3) the roles that home & real estate ownership play in accumulating assets; & (4) the impact of intergenerational transfers on asset accumulation. It is concluded that future policy designed to reduce social division should emphasize asset development, especially among poor families, & reconsider current methods of measuring poverty. 6 Tables, 2 Figures, 32 References. J. W. Parker