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Assets and African Americans: Attempting to Capitalize on Hopes for Children Through College Savings Accounts

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  • Trina Shanks
  • Kerri Nicoll
  • Toni Johnson

Abstract

Although some racial inequalities have lessened in the half-century since the passage of the first major civil rights legislation, the racial wealth gap remains and in recent years seems to be widening. Households with children are the least likely to be asset secure or have sufficient resources to enable investment in opportunities for mobility. Viewing inequality from this perspective indicates that what households are able to save and invest for the future might have a more lasting impact on the life chances of children than their current income and consumption. Summarizing data from the Saving for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment (SEED) Initiative, a quasi-experimental study that is part of a national demonstration of Child Development Accounts (CDAs) in the United States, this paper describes how African-American households engage with one important investment opportunity - college savings accounts for their pre-school children. Combining account monitoring, survey, interview and focus group data, we explore the reasons that many households chose not to open accounts or invest their own money. We offer suggestions for making asset development programs viable for low-income African-American families and their children. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Trina Shanks & Kerri Nicoll & Toni Johnson, 2014. "Assets and African Americans: Attempting to Capitalize on Hopes for Children Through College Savings Accounts," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 41(3), pages 337-356, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:blkpoe:v:41:y:2014:i:3:p:337-356
    DOI: 10.1007/s12114-014-9185-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir, 2004. "A Behavioral-Economics View of Poverty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 419-423, May.
    2. Frank P. Stafford & Ngina S. Chiteji, 1999. "Portfolio Choices of Parents and Their Children as Young Adults: Asset Accumulation by African-American Families," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 377-380, May.
    3. Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman, 1991. "Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1039-1061.
    4. Beverly, Sondra G. & Sherraden, Michael, 1999. "Institutional determinants of saving: implications for low-income households and public policy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 457-473.
    5. Trina R. Williams Shanks & Lewis Mandell & Deborah Adams, 2013. "Financial Education and Financial Access: Lessons Learned from Child Development Account Research," Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, MIT Press, vol. 8(1-2), pages 159-175, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. David R. Williams & Lisa A. Cooper, 2019. "Reducing Racial Inequities in Health: Using What We Already Know to Take Action," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-26, February.
    2. Catherine A. Manly & Ryan S. Wells & Genia M. Bettencourt, 2017. "Financial Planning for College: Parental Preparation and Capital Conversion," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 421-438, September.

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