The Contribution of Shareholder Primacy to the Racial Wealth Gap

This original analysis contributes to ongoing policy discussions about how to restructure the rules for corporate equity ownership in our society and how to end wealth inequities that are a legacy of the US’s shameful history of slavery, racism, and xenophobia. As noted by Insight Center for Community Economic Development President Anne Price in a Roosevelt report, it is critical to focus “on the root of racial wealth inequality rather than fixating on the racial wealth gap,” because a gap can be partially closed without addressing its underlying causes. This working paper uses the RWG as a measurement device but supports a conceptual and policymaking reframing to focus on wealth equity—by confronting ongoing racism, checking the dominance of corporations that stems from neoliberal economic theory, and increasing public power.