The Importance of Social Security as an Equalizer

This article details two critical points regarding wealth and inequality in the United States. First, retirement wealth inequality is extreme-Black and Hispanic households have less than half the retirement wealth of White households. Second, this inequality would be much worse but for the presence of Social Security. As the U.S. population becomes more diverse, it will be increasingly important for policymakers addressing Social Security's solvency to understand the extent to which various racial and ethnic groups rely upon Social Security versus other sources of retirement wealth.