The challenge of ethnic wealth inequalities:

Project description

The role that wealth plays in sustaining economic inequality is widely recognized but there are key gaps in the evidence. In particular, existing analysis reveals heterogeneity in wealth holdings across different ethnic groups but has failed to identify why some ethnic groups have been able to build wealth while others not and how patterns of ethnic wealth disparities have changed over time. This project - funded by the British Academy Innovation Fellowship Scheme 2023-2024 - aims to build a better understanding of how different ethnic groups have been able to build wealth while others have not and how this may have changed over time. The project has two components:

The first component involves analysis of large household survey data and aims to provide evidence on:

1. how wealth inequality between and within ethnic groups has changed over time and to untangle the relative role of the labour supply, income, household composition and wealth portfolio structure and other factors in driving the change in ethnic wealth disparities;
2. how wealth inequality and housing wealth inequality in particular unfolds over the life-course and how this differs for different birth cohorts of each ethnic group and by cohort of arrival in the UK; to determine the relative role of intra- and intergenerational processes in explaining ethnic wealth disparities as they evolve with age.

The second component aims to add the voices of real people into the analysis. It involves primary data collection from people from five different ethnic minority groups using Community Reporting research methodology in order to provide their understanding about the barriers racialised communities face in building wealth and their suggestions of what can enable them to do so.

The planned project outputs include briefing reports and other high impact dissemination and engagement activities. The project is led by Eleni Karagiannaki and is in partnership with the Equality Trust.

Duration: March 2024 to March 2025

Funder: British Academy Innovation Fellowship 2023-2024 (Fellowship number: IF2324\240028) (Research Led).