ABSTRACT
Even in the context of high levels of overall wealth inequality, the racial wealth gap in the United States is striking. Black Americans own between 5–9 cents for every dollar of White wealth. Because socioeconomic factors are both fundamental determinants of health and strongly patterned by race, the racial stratification of wealth in the United States is a key mechanism linking structural and institutional racism to population health inequality. This chapter reviews and synthesizes previous research on the associations between wealth and individual and population health, contextualizing these findings in an era of rising levels of wealth inequality in the United States. Given documented associations between wealth and health and staggering levels of racial wealth inequality, the chapter makes the case that the racial wealth gap is a critical driver of population-level racial health inequities across the life course. In addition to reviewing previous research, the author also uses new estimates from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to make claims. The chapter closes with a discussion of how policies and interventions to reduce wealth inequality and to shrink the racial wealth gap are essential health policies and describes future directions for research on wealth and health. Throughout the chapter, the author pays particular attention to the relevance of life-course theories and concepts in research on wealth and heath and highlights the critical role of aging and life-course scholars in shaping policy debates.
