Objective To examine the distributional effects of the 2008 recession and subsequent recovery across generational cohorts. Methods Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (2007–2016), we constructed a measure of economic well-being accounting for income, household size, and annuitized value of assets. We examine trajectories of adjusted income and inequality, using Gini coefficients and income shares by decile, for the overall population and by cohort during the recession and recovery. Results Inequality declined temporarily during the recession, but reached new highs during the recovery. During recovery, population-level increases in economic resources were not reflected among below-median households, as the more concentrated financial assets rose while broader-based home equity and employment fell or remained stagnant. Inequality measures increased for cohorts in their primary working years (Generation-X and Baby Boomers), but not among the younger Millennials, who were at early stages of education, workforce entry, and household formation. Discussion The study illustrates an integrative approach to analyzing cumulative dis/advantage by considering interactions between historically consistent macrolevel events, such as economic shocks or policy choices affecting all cohorts, and the persistent life-course processes that tend to increase heterogeneity and inequality as cohorts age over time. Although recovery policies led to rapid recovery of financial asset values, they did not proportionately reach those below the median or their economic resource types. Results suggest that in a high-inequality environment, recovery policies from economic shocks may need tailoring to all levels of resources in order to achieve more equitable recovery outcomes and prevent exacerbating cohort inequality trajectories.

中文翻译：

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2008 年经济衰退对美国人群财富调整收入和不平等的影响

目的 考察 2008 年经济衰退和随后的复苏对各代人的分配影响。方法 使用来自消费者财务调查（2007-2016 年）的数据，我们构建了一个衡量收入、家庭规模和资产年金化价值的经济福祉的衡量标准。我们使用基尼系数和十分位数的收入份额，针对经济衰退和复苏期间的总体人口和队列研究调整后收入和不平等的轨迹。结果 不平等在衰退期间暂时下降，但在复苏期间达到新高。在复苏期间，人口水平的经济资源增长并未反映在低于中位数的家庭中，因为更集中的金融资产上升，而基础更广泛的房屋净值和就业下降或保持停滞。处于初级工作年龄的群体（X 代和婴儿潮一代）的不平等程度有所增加，但在处于教育、劳动力进入和家庭形成的早期阶段的年轻千禧一代中没有。讨论 该研究通过考虑历史上一致的宏观层面事件（例如影响所有群体的经济冲击或政策选择）与随着群体年龄增长而趋于增加异质性和不平等的持续生命历程过程之间的相互作用，说明了一种分析累积劣势/优势的综合方法随着时间的推移。尽管复苏政策导致金融资产价值迅速复苏，但它们并未按比例达到低于中位数或其经济资源类型的价值。结果表明，在高度不平等的环境中，