@article {13851,
	title = {Longitudinal patterns in cohort income inequality, income instability, and income trajectories of a US cohort on the cusp of retirement},
	year = {2022},
	institution = {Oxford University Press},
	address = {Oxford},
	abstract = {Previous research has shown that the course of income inequality of a US cohort in
retirement depends on the inequality measure used. For example, the variance of
logarithmic income, a bottom sensitive measure, displays a decidedly declining
trend. This study examines the mechanisms that underlie these income inequality
changes as a cohort enters their retirement years using longitudinal data over a 20-
year period and a variety of methods. In particular, individual income trajectories
and income instability just before and in retirement are investigated. The results
show (i) the variance of logarithmic income falls as the cohort ages primarily due to
a reduction in income instability; (ii) on average, the rich and poor get poorer as
they age into retirement; and (iii) consistent with previous research, a person{\textquoteright}s place
in the retirement income distribution is largely determined before retirement.},
	keywords = {Income inequality, income instability, Retirement, US},
	doi = {10.1093/oep/gpab041},
	author = {Thomas L. Hungerford}
}
@article {11530,
	title = {Poorer and minority older adults are suspicious of the US health care system {\textendash} a new study shows why},
	year = {2021},
	publisher = {The Conversation },
	abstract = {We analyzed information collected in a biannual national survey called the Health and Retirement Study. Along with colleagues at the LeadingAge LTSS Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation, we found that fully one-third of U.S. respondents age 50 and older reported the health care system {\textquotedblleft}never,{\textquotedblright} or only {\textquotedblleft}sometimes,{\textquotedblright} considered their care preferences. The other two-thirds reported their preferences were {\textquotedblleft}usually{\textquotedblright} or {\textquotedblleft}always{\textquotedblright} taken into account.},
	keywords = {health care system, Income inequality, Racial Disparities},
	url = {https://theconversation.com/poorer-and-minority-older-adults-are-suspicious-of-the-us-health-care-system-a-new-study-shows-why-156117},
	author = {Marc A Cohen and Jane Tavares}
}
@article {10529,
	title = {The contribution of dementia to the disparity in family wealth between black and non-black Americans},
	journal = {Ageing and Society},
	volume = {40},
	year = {2020},
	pages = {306-327},
	abstract = {{The enormous economic burden of dementia in the United States of America falls disproportionately on families coping with this devastating disease. Black Americans, who are at greater risk of developing dementia than white Americans, hold on average less than one-eighth of the wealth of white Americans. This study explores whether dementia exacerbates this wealth disparity by examining dementia{\textquoteright}s effect on wealth trajectories of black versus non-black Americans over an eight-year period preceding death, using five waves of data (beginning in 2002 or 2004) on decedents in the 2012 and 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (N = 2,429). Dementia is associated with a loss of 97 per cent of wealth among black Americans, compared with 42 per cent among non-black Americans, while wealth loss among black and non-black Americans without dementia did not differ substantially (15\% versus 19\%). Dementia appears to increase the probability of wealth exhaustion among both black and non-black Americans, although the estimate is no longer significant after adjusting for all covariates (for blacks, odds ratio (OR) = 2.04, 95\% confidence interval (CI) = 0.83, 5.00; for non-blacks},
	keywords = {African Americans, Age, Aging, Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease, Alzheimers disease, Blacks, Costs, Dementia, dementia cost, Equity, Families \& family life, Gerontology And Geriatrics, Health and Retirement Study, Income inequality, Long term health care, Ownership, Racial differences, Racial Disparities, Retirement, Senility, Studies, United States{\textendash}US, Wealth, wealth disparities},
	isbn = {0144686X},
	doi = {10.1017/S0144686X18000934},
	author = {Jennifer Kaufman and William T Gallo and Fahs,Marianne C.}
}
@article {10230,
	title = {The Course of Income Inequality as a Cohort Ages into Old-Age},
	journal = {The Journal of Economic Inequality},
	year = {2019},
	month = {08/2019},
	pages = {1-20},
	abstract = {Several researchers have shown that income inequality of a cohort increases as the cohort ages. The various studies examining cohort income inequality use a variety of data, measures, and methods. Is the U.S. experience documented in other studies due (1) to cumulative advantages and disadvantages continuing to work through market income into retirement, (2) to the relative weakness of the U.S. Social Security program, or (3) to potential biases due to data, measures and/or methods? This study examines cohort income inequality using nationally representative longitudinal data and a variety of inequality measures to follow a large sample of individuals from their late pre-retirement years into their retirement years. The findings are: (1) the course of the Gini coefficient is flat as the cohort ages into retirement, (2) but the course of income inequality as this cohort ages into retirement depends on the inequality measure employed, and (3) the trend results suggest that what is going on in the bottom part of the distribution is different from what is going on in the upper part.},
	keywords = {Aging, Capital income, Earnings, Income inequality, Retirement income, Social Security},
	isbn = {1573-8701},
	doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-019-09427-5},
	url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10888-019-09427-5},
	author = {Hungerford, Thomas L.}
}
@article {10353,
	title = {Delayed Retirement and the Growth in Income Inequality at Older Ages},
	year = {2018},
	month = {02/2018},
	institution = {The Urban Institute},
	abstract = {As concerns about retirement savings have intensified, many older adults have begun working beyond traditional retirement age. By working longer, they can improve their retirement security by increasing their future monthly Social Security payments and shortening the time they must rely on their savings. But does delaying retirement deepen income inequality for older adults by leaving those with health problems behind?

Delayed retirement can boost financial security but excludes workers with health problems

Employment and income for 62-to-64-year-olds has increased substantially over the past two decades for people in good health. But employment and income have stagnated for older Americans with health problems, who face lower income than their healthier counterparts for the rest of their lives.   

To assess how later retirement affects income inequality at older ages, we examined how the relationship between health status, employment, and income has shifted for people eligible for early Social Security retirement benefits but too young to receive full retirement benefits.},
	keywords = {Income inequality, Retirement},
	url = {https://www.urban.org/research/publication/delayed-retirement-and-growth-income-inequality-older-ages},
	author = {Richard W. Johnson}
}
@article {9851,
	title = {Ethnic and racial disparities in saving behavior},
	journal = {The Journal of Economic Inequality},
	year = {2018},
	month = {May-10-2018},
	abstract = {Using data of households approaching retirement in the U.S., I perform quantile decompositions of the Whites{\textquoteright} differences in saving rates with Mexican Americans (ethnic gap) and with African Americans (racial gap). The gaps are small at the bottom half of the distribution and widen at the top, especially those resulting from changes in asset prices (passive savings). Differences in observable factors account for the entire gaps at lower quantiles, but some unexplained racial gap remains at higher quantiles. Thus, racial wealth inequality could be partly attributable to differences in the distributions of saving rates conditional on socio-economic characteristics. Income is the main contributor to the active savings gaps, and education is more important for passive savings. Including retirement assets, the racial but not the ethnic gap in total saving rates disappears. The results suggest that reducing disparities in income, education and pension savings would help to reduce wealth inequality between minorities, particularly Mexican Americans, and Whites.

},
	keywords = {African Americans, Education, Income inequality, Mexican Americans, Pensions, Saving, Socioeconomic factors},
	issn = {1569-1721},
	doi = {10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3},
	url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3.pdfhttp://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3.pdfhttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3/fulltext.html},
	author = {Dal Borgo, Mariela}
}
@article {9333,
	title = {Longitudinal Determinants of End-of-Life Wealth Inequality},
	number = {Working Paper No. 23839},
	year = {2017},
	institution = {National Bureau of Economic Research},
	address = {Cambridge, MA},
	abstract = {This paper examines inequality in end-of-life wealth and the factors that contribute to individuals reaching this life stage with few financial resources. It analyzes repeated cross-sections of the Health and Retirement Study, as well as a small longitudinal sample of individuals observed both at age 65 and shortly before death. Most of those who die with little wealth had little wealth at retirement. There is strong persistence over time in the bottom tail of the wealth distribution, but the probability of having low wealth increases slowly with age after age 65. Those with low lifetime earnings are much more likely to report low wealth at retirement, and to die with little wealth, than their higher-earning contemporaries. The onset of a major medical condition and the loss of a spouse increase in the probability of falling into the low wealth category at advanced ages, although these factors appear to contribute to wealth decline for only a small fraction of those who had modest wealth at age 65 but low wealth at the time of death.},
	keywords = {Income inequality, Inequality, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction},
	doi = {10.3386/w23839},
	url = {http://www.nber.org/papers/w23839.pdf},
	author = {James M. Poterba and Steven F Venti and David A Wise}
}
@article {9020,
	title = {Population health in an era of rising income inequality: USA, 1980{\textendash}2015},
	journal = {The Lancet},
	volume = {389},
	year = {2017},
	month = {04/2017},
	pages = {1475-1490},
	abstract = {Income inequality in the USA has increased over the past four decades. Socioeconomic gaps in survival have also increased. Life expectancy has risen among middle-income and high-income Americans whereas it has stagnated among poor Americans and even declined in some demographic groups. Although the increase in income inequality since 1980 has been driven largely by soaring top incomes, the widening of survival inequalities has occurred lower in the distribution-ie, between the poor and upper-middle class. Growing survival gaps across income percentiles since 2001 reflect falling real incomes among poor Americans as well as an increasingly strong association between low income and poor health. Changes in individual risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and substance abuse play a part but do not fully explain the steeper gradient. Distal factors correlated with rising inequality including unequal access to technological innovations, increased geographical segregation by income, reduced economic mobility, mass incarceration, and increased exposure to the costs of medical care might have reduced access to salutary determinants of health among low-income Americans. Having missed out on decades of income growth and longevity gains, low-income Americans are increasingly left behind. Without interventions to decouple income and health, or to reduce inequalities in income, we might see the emergence of a 21st century health-poverty trap and the further widening and hardening of socioeconomic inequalities in health.},
	keywords = {Income inequality, Population Health, Socioeconomic factors},
	issn = {01406736},
	doi = {10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30571-8},
	author = {Bor, Jacob and Cohen, Gregory H. and Galea, Sandro}
}
@article {9222,
	title = {Representativeness of the low-income population in the Health and Retirement Study},
	journal = {The Journal of the Economics of Ageing},
	volume = {9},
	year = {2017},
	month = {Jan-06-2017},
	pages = {90-99},
	abstract = {We study to what extent the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is representative of all income groups, but with a particular emphasis on low-income groups. To focus on the HRS sample composition and abstract from potential measurement issues associated with measures of income, we exploit the SSA administrative data matched to the HRS sample and compare the distribution of the matched SSA variables against the distribution of the same variables for the same population in the SSA databases. Overall, the HRS is representative for the population it covers. However, for some subgroups in the low-income population, there are some differences.},
	keywords = {Consumption and Savings, Income inequality, Low incomes, Population Health},
	issn = {2212828X},
	doi = {10.1016/j.jeoa.2016.08.004},
	url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2212828X16300627http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S2212828X16300627?httpAccept=text/xmlhttp://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S2212828X16300627?httpAccept=text/plain},
	author = {Erik Meijer and Lynn A Karoly}
}
@article {9324,
	title = {Rich American seniors are getting healthier, leaving the poor behind},
	journal = {The Conversation US},
	year = {2017},
	publisher = {The Conversation US},
	address = {Cambridge, MA},
	keywords = {Editorial, Income inequality, News},
	url = {https://theconversation.com/rich-american-seniors-are-getting-healthier-leaving-the-poor-behind-83012},
	author = {Matthew A. Davis and Kenneth M. Langa}
}
@article {9745,
	title = {Public and Private Challenges of an Aging U.S. Population},
	journal = {Business Economics},
	volume = {51},
	year = {2016},
	month = {Jan-01-2016},
	pages = {8 - 10},
	abstract = {The challenges posed by the aging of the US population for business and public policy are vast. They are amplified particularly by:

* Slow increase of incomes - and therefore low private savings - for those at the bottom of the pay distribution.

* Cutbacks in employee health-care insurance and defined benefit pension plans.

* Unsustainability of Social Security and Medicare as currently configured.

This paper spells out these challenges and discusses how they can be addressed. Of particular importance are some combination of enhanced revenue and reduced expenditure for Social Security and Medicare, the shift of private pension plans from defined benefit to defined contribution, the need to consider later retirement ages, and the need for improved personal financial literacy.},
	keywords = {Income, Income inequality, Savings, Social Security, Spending, Taxes},
	issn = {0007-666X},
	doi = {10.1057/be.2016.6},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/be.2016.6},
	author = {Olivia S. Mitchell}
}
@article {9099,
	title = {Does eliminating the earnings test increase the incidence of low income among older women?},
	number = {Working Paper No. 21601},
	year = {2015},
	month = {10/2015},
	institution = {National Bureau of Economic Research},
	address = {Cambridge, MA},
	abstract = {Reducing or eliminating Social Security{\textquoteright}s Retirement Earnings Test (RET) can encourage labor supply of older individuals receiving benefits. However, these reforms can encourage earlier claiming of Social Security benefits, permanently lowering future benefits. We explore the consequences, for older women, of eliminating the RET from the Full Retirement Age to age 69 (in 2000), relying on the inter-cohort variation in exposure to changes in the RET to estimate these effects. The evidence is consistent with the conclusion that eliminating the RET increased the likelihood of having very low incomes among women in their mid-70s and older {\textendash} ages at which the lower benefits from claiming earlier could outweigh higher income in the earlier period when women or their husbands increased their labor supply.},
	keywords = {Income inequality, Restricted data, Women and Minorities},
	doi = {10.3386/w21601},
	url = {http://www.nber.org/papers/w21601.pdf},
	author = {Theodore F. Figinski and David Neumark}
}
