Race, Ethnicity & Family Wealth Transfers

Jinkook Lee, Ohio State University

The aims of this paper is to examine potential differences in family wealth transfer behavior across racial/ethnic groups. Using all the available waves of Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data, the patterns of inter vivo transfers from parents to children are identified over 7-8 year time period. A significant difference in family wealth transfer is found across different racial/ethnic groups. On average, 32.9% of Caucasian Whites, 22.6% of African Americans, 16.1% of Hispanics, and 29.4% of other racial groups made inter vivo transfer in a two-year time period. Whether and how the determinants of wealth transfers, such as health and wealth status, age, cohorts, and economic, health, and family events differently influence wealth transfers across racial/ethnic groups are investigated.