Black Americans have grappled with more volatile inflation when compared to white households over the past several years, according to new research published Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Study author Munseob Lee, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, used race-specific household spending and price data from Nielsen to display the slight difference between inflation rates faced by Black and white households from 2004 to 2020. That data showed that a gap emerged during the Great Recession in 2008 before narrowing in 2014, though it still persists.
However, Black households experienced far greater price volatility than white households during that time, Lee’s research shows — meaning it was harder for them to figure out how much their money could buy over time. During the study period, Black households faced 13.5% more volatile inflation in consumer goods when compared to white households, in part because they spend more on necessary items that are prone to price swings, like eggs and flour. White households, meanwhile, tend to spend more on items whose prices don’t fluctuate as much, like wine and pet care. (Prices of pet food and pet products have increased by 8.3% in the past year, according to government data, while the cost of alcoholic beverages is up 4%. The cost of eggs is up 32.2% …