Research

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Suss, J., Kemeny, T., & Connor, D. S. (2024). GEOWEALTH-US: Spatial wealth inequality data for the United States, 1960–2020.Scientific Data, 11(1), 253.
Description: This dataset provides historical estimates of wealth inequality in the U.S. from 1960 to 2020 using novel data...
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Connor, D., Sheehan, C., Jang, J., Kemeny, T., Suss, J., Molina, M., Xie, S., Gu, Z., & Saenz, J. (2025). Community Wealth Protects Cognitive Health for Older Adults. SocArXiv preprint.
Description: This study examines how community wealth influences cognitive decline among older Americans, using data from nearly two million adults. It finds that greater community wealth significantly reduces the risk of cognitive impairment, with effects especially pronounced among economically disadvantaged and marginalized populations.
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Kemeny, T., Connor, D., Suss, J., Xie, S., Jang, J., & Gu, Z. (2026). Spatial Wealth Inequality in the United States: Theory and Evidence. SocArXiv preprint.
Description: This paper examines why the spatial distribution of wealth across U.S. regions differs sharply from that of income. Using household net worth data for 722 commuting zones from 1960–2020, the authors show that wealth is 60–70% more spatially concentrated than income, with declining wealth shares among the bottom 50% across communities nationwide.
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