How much could will-writing reduce the racial wealth gap?

Abstract

This paper examines the persistent racial wealth gap between Black and White households in the United States, focusing on the disparity in will-writing rates as a contributing factor. Despite attempts to bridge the wealth gap since Emancipation, progress has stalled, and since the 1980s, the gap has actually widened. The analysis investigates the potential for equalizing will-writing rates between Black and White individuals to narrow this wealth gap over past generations. Utilizing data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and employing both reduced-form and more structural analytical approaches, the study estimates the impact of will-writing on wealth accumulation and intergenerational wealth transfers. The findings suggest that equalizing will-writing rates could have reduced the racial wealth gap by 10 percent over three generations, underscoring wills as a significant, yet not singular, factor in addressing racial wealth disparities. The paper concludes that interventions that increase will-writing are one promising avenue for helping narrow the racial wealth gap.