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Based on their modeling, the authors find that investing in high-quality and affordable child care can increase women’s lifetime earnings and retirement savings by almost $100,000 for a mother of two kids. They also find that women with lower levels of education and lower incomes would experience the largest relative economic gains, and that percentage increases are larger for Black and Latina women.

Ultimately, this paper focuses more on lifetime earnings and retirement savings than it does directly on wealth accumulation, but we know from other research that these are key determinants of one’s ability to accumulate wealth over the long-term.

Among their most troubling findings is that economic mobility is lowest for Black Americans, especially for Black men. Hispanic Americans often start at similarly low levels of income to Black Americans, but Hispanic Americans are experiencing greater levels of economic mobility into the next generation.

The paper explores various potential factors, such as family characteristics and human capital. The authors ultimately find that one key factor for Black Americans is the far larger share who grow up in high-poverty neighborhoods. They, therefore, argue that policy strategies for change ought to include efforts to better integrate neighborhoods by race and class. Additionally, they argue that the earlier in one’s life a child lives moves to an integrated neighborhood, the greater the potential benefit.