The Wealth of Generations, With Special Attention to the Millennials
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Repeated cross-sectional survey and cohort analysis (graded by non-clinical design analogy)
OpenAlex W3023136430 · doi:10.3386/w27123
What was done
The authors analyzed household wealth trends across birth cohorts over time using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), focusing on the Millennial generation and racial disparities up through 2016.
What was found
The abstract does not report specific dollar figures or percentages. It reports that while the Great Recession reduced wealth across all age groups, long-term trends show older cohorts gained wealth while younger cohorts lost wealth. Millennials had lower median wealth in 2016 than any similarly aged cohort between 1989 and 2007. The generation also includes a higher proportion of racial minorities, who historically accumulated less wealth controlling for household characteristics, with the wealth gap between Black and white households widening over time.
Why it matters
This paper provides a key pre-COVID benchmark establishing that higher educational attainment among Millennials has not overcome systemic economic disadvantages and widening racial wealth gaps.
Limits
The abstract reports no numerical effect sizes, sample size, or confidence intervals. The data end in 2016 and therefore do not capture the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cited by
- context The average 70-year-old in the US is 72% wealthier than a 70-year-old was 40 years ago, while a 25-year-old is 24% less wealthy than a 25-year-old was 40 years ago.