November 19, 2025 | Noon to 1:00 PM EST
Nicole Yadon (Ohio State University)
Racial disparities in wealth lead to unequal access to opportunities in the U.S., yet many Americans are largely unaware of these gaps and vastly underestimate their size. In this study, we investigate how Black/White and Hispanic/White wealth gaps are (mis)understood by Americans and test potential interventions to correct these misperceptions. We specifically examine the conditions under which individuals update their misperceptions about racial wealth inequality and the downstream attitudinal and policy preference consequences of these changes. We test three interventions designed to correct misperceptions about the racial wealth gap across two national survey experiments of American adults: (1) a numeric only condition, (2) a narrative condition, and (3) a historical context condition that discusses historical factors that have contributed to racial wealth gaps (e.g. redlining, the racially exclusionary implementation of the G.I. Bill). We find that being exposed to the historical context intervention increases Americans’ interest in taking actions against racial disparities in wealth and support for equalizing policies. Moreover, we find these shifts are driven primarily by heightened structural attributions for racial disparities in wealth. This study adds to a growing body of work aimed at combatting misinformation about racial wealth inequalities by identifying an effective strategy for increasing public support for wealth-equalizing interventions.