#BlackHistoryMonth This morning, I wanted to dive into something super interesting @DarrickHamilton and @SandyDarity paper on the Racial Wealth Gap and their discussion on Baby Bonds - what they found and why it matters. Also, both of these men are awesome in real life. A thread/

In their paper, Hamilton, Darity, and their co-authors debunk several myths surrounding the racial gap. There are ten, but I am only going to highlight two that stood out the most to me and discuss the idea of baby bonds. This work? 12/10 RECOMMEND. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William_Darity/publication/324544206_What_We_Get_Wrong_About_Closing_the_Racial_Wealth_Gap/links/5ad4d672a6fdcc29358093af/What-We-Get-Wrong-About-Closing-the-Racial-Wealth-Gap.pdf?origin=publication_detail 2/

Turns out that more education or greater work effort by Black people does not close the gap. "The pattern is evident: studying hard and working hard clearly is not enough for black families to make up for their marginalized financial position". The data depicted is damning. 3/

2) Financial literacy also does not close the racial wealth gap and oftentimes this discussion makes it seem like Black people make poor financial decisions. "Greater financial literacy can be valuable if an individual or household has finances to manage." #WeStan for FACTS. 4/

At the end of the day, it boils down to the wealth each of us are born into. Hamilton and Darity make the case for baby bonds: "A trust account for every newborn of up to 60,000 dollars, calibrated to the wealth of the family in which they are born" cc https://www.ted.com/talks/darrick_hamilton_how_baby_bonds_could_help_close_the_wealth_gap/transcript?language=en#t-107281. 5/

With this "economic birthright", as @DarrickHamilton puts it, baby bonds can help alleviate economic inequality, making it easier for economic mobility regardless of the race and/or family positions someone is born into. In other words, herein lies a solution. 6/6