21. Wealth Inequality in the United States

2018 ◽  
pp. 236-243 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
The United States

scholarly journals Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data *

2016 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Saez ◽  
Gabriel Zucman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Balance Sheets ◽  
Distribution Of Wealth ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Wealth Concentration ◽  
Top Incomes ◽  
Tax Returns

Abstract This paper combines income tax returns with macroeconomic household balance sheets to estimate the distribution of wealth in the United States since 1913. We estimate wealth by capitalizing the incomes reported by individual taxpayers, accounting for assets that do not generate taxable income. We successfully test our capitalization method in three micro datasets where we can observe both income and wealth: the Survey of Consumer Finance, linked estate and income tax returns, and foundations’ tax records. We find that wealth concentration was high in the beginning of the twentieth century, fell from 1929 to 1978, and has continuously increased since then. The top 0.1% wealth share has risen from 7% in 1978 to 22% in 2012, a level almost as high as in 1929. Top wealth-holders are younger today than in the 1960s and earn a higher fraction of the economy’s labor income. The bottom 90% wealth share first increased up to the mid-1980s and then steadily declined. The increase in wealth inequality in recent decades is due to the upsurge of top incomes combined with an increase in saving rate inequality. We explain how our findings can be reconciled with Survey of Consumer Finances and estate tax data.

Combatining Income and Wealth Inequality, Racial Discrimination, and Social Exclusion in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 182-215
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Shared Value ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Policy Measures

Inequality has increased significantly in the United States during the last three decades. Growing inequality has become a shared value among political actors. Inequality has become problematic and a threat to values of citizens and even the conservatives in U.S. The chapter, therefore, examines the trends in income inequality between 1920s and 2010 and the trends in income inequality between 1979 and 2017. It also focuses on wealth inequality, realities of income inequality at sub-national levels, and income equality along racial and ethnic lines with a specific focus in the years 2007-2016. Also, inequality and social inclusion and social policy measures are discussed.

Combating Income and Wealth Inequality, Racial Discrimination, and Social Exclusion in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 118-144
Author(s):  
Augustine Nduka Eneanya
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Shared Value ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Policy Measures

Inequality has increased significantly in the United States during the last three decades. Growing inequality has become a shared value among political actors. Inequality has become problematic and a threat to values of citizens and even the conservatives in U.S. The chapter, therefore, examines the trends in income inequality between 1920s and 2010 and the trends in income inequality between 1979 and 2017. It also focuses on wealth inequality, realities of income inequality at sub-national levels, and income equality along racial and ethnic lines with a specific focus in the years 2007-2016. Also, inequality and social inclusion and social policy measures are discussed.

A People’s Portfolio of the United States

Divested ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Ken-Hou Lin ◽  
Megan Tobias Neely
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
Wealth Accumulation ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Distribution Of Wealth ◽  
Baby Boomer Generation ◽  
Social Class Inequality

This chapter focuses on how finance has transformed household wealth—a trend with long-term implications for how social-class inequality becomes entrenched. It first reviews the uneven distribution of wealth in the United States. Wealth inequality has risen since the last quarter of the 20th century. Today, fewer American families have sufficient means to accumulate wealth over time, and the concentration of capital in the hands of a select few has widened the fault line between the richest and the rest. The chapter also examines how the distribution of wealth has changed across generations—more precisely, what social scientists call “cohorts.” That is, wealth for the baby boomer generation differs greatly from wealth among the millennials. Since wealth accumulation develops over the course of a person’s life, families in young adulthood and near retirement are considered.

Wealth Inequality and the Ergodic Hypothesis: Evidence from the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonatan Berman ◽  
Ole Peters ◽  
Alexander Adamou
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Stationary Distribution ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Ergodic Hypothesis

Many studies of wealth inequality make the ergodic hypothesis that rescaled wealth converges rapidly to a stationary distribution. Under this assumption, changes in distribution are expressed as changes in model parameters, reflecting shocks in economic conditions, with rapid equilibration thereafter. Here we test the ergodic hypothesis in an established model of wealth in a growing and reallocating economy. We fit model parameters to historical data from the United States. In recent decades, we find negative reallocation, from poorer to richer, for which no stationary distribution exists. When we find positive reallocation, convergence to the stationary distribution is slow. Our analysis does not support using the ergodic hypothesis in this model for these data. It suggests that inequality evolves because the distribution is inherently unstable on relevant timescales, regardless of shocks. Studies of other models and data, in which the ergodic hypothesis is made, would benefit from similar tests.

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