https://twitter.com/Econ_Marshall/status/1328362128579858435?s=20

RI:

I am going to dispute the claim that the graphs show that "student debt is held by the (relatively) poor."

1. How much 'economic wealth' someone has is measured by the sum of their assets including their human capital. A greater proportion of student loan debt is held by people with higher levels of education (Brookings). This is not considered by just looking at the graph of wealth. Furthermore, this fact is important to consider, because your quality of life depends on your permanent income rather than your 'accounting wealth', and more educated people tend to have more income now and in the future.

2. If this is true, then we may at least expect to see in the data that people with more student loan debt to have more income. A cross-section shows people with more debt are from higher income quantiles (Brookings again). Obviously it would be ridiculous to say people with higher incomes are relatively poor. Also, this point about income levels and and the previous point about income growth arguments are different - here's a shitty ms paint graph. An example of this might be a lawyer who starts off making more than a high school grad; over time, because there's more room for career growth, the income discrepancy between the two would increase. So, we'd further understate lifetime income (and thus economic wealth) if we just look at a cross-section, even one that controls for education.

3. The graphs also do not account for age. People pay off debt over time. Even two completely identical people in identical economies would have different levels of debt at different points in their life. So, looking at a cross section of household wealth and splitting on wealth might just be identifying Millennials who, of course, are going to have less wealth because they are younger. This would not say anything about their actual quality of life which would again depend on their permanent income.