Assets and Income: Disability-based
Disparities in the United States
Susan L. Parish, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, YeongHun Veo,
Roderick A. Rose, and Arie Rimmerman

The authors analyzed data from the 2001 Survey of Income and Program Participation
(SIPP) to determine the extent of a disability-based net worth and income gap among U.S. households.The sample included 4,154 households with an adult with disabilities and 12,365 households without an adult with disabilities. Households with an adult with disabilities had substantially reduced net worth and income as contrasted with households without adults with disabilities, regardless of family structure (married couple, single women, or single men).
Policy implications are discussed.
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KEY WORDS; assets; disabilities; income gap; Survey of Income and Program Participation

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ssets are resources that families can use to invest for long-term economic and social well-being (Shapiro & Wolff, 2001; Sherraden, 1991). Assets such as homes, saving accounts, and business equity provide stability and offer a cushion in difficult times. Accumulation of assets facilitates long-term financial well-being as well as opportunities for social mobility and increased political participation and power (Building Assets,
2005;Wolff& Zacharias, 2007).
There is disturbing evidence of asset inequality in the United States. Recent research found that the top 20% of U.S. income earners hold more than
80% of all U.S. wealth, and the bottom 40% of U.S. income earners hold less than 5% of all U.S. wealth
(Wolff, 2004). Moreover, net worth trends suggest that wealth increases have occurred at the top of the income distribution. Although both median and mean net worth increased between 2001 and
2004, median income increased 1.5% compared with the 6.3% increase in mean net worth. As such, the wealthiest households