scholarly journals Recent Trends in the Size Distribution of Household Wealth

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 131-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward N Wolff
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
Net Worth ◽  
Distribution Of Wealth ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Recent Trends

Based on the Survey of Consumer Finances, the distribution of wealth in the United States became much more unequal in the 1980s and that trend continued, albeit at a slower pace, in the 1990s. The only households that saw their mean net worth rise in absolute terms between 1983 and 1995 were those in the top 20 percent and the gains were particularly strong for the top one percent. All other groups were particularly strong for the top one percent. All other groups suffered real wealth losses, including the median household, and declines were particularly precipitous at the bottom. Racial disparities widened, and young households also lost out over this period.

Dual private pension households and the distribution of wealth in the United States

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
NANCY AMMON JIANAKOPLOS ◽  
VICKIE L. BAJTELSMIT
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
Private Pension ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
Net Worth ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

Using data from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances, this paper examines the impact of dual private pension households on the distribution of household wealth in the United States. This paper builds on three lines of previous research: inquiries into ‘assortative mating’, i.e., the tendency for people with similar characteristics to marry; studies emphasizing the importance of pensions as a component of household wealth; and recent research examining how wives' earnings alter the distribution of household income. Evidence of ‘assortative private pensions’, i.e., the tendency for people with private pensions to be married to people with private pensions, is presented. Estimates of the expected value of private pension and social security wealth are added to measures of household non-retirement net worth to obtain the value household wealth. These data indicate that wives' private pensions in dual private pension households contribute marginally to greater equality in the wealth distribution.

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.

scholarly journals Comparing Micro and Macro Sources for Household Accounts in the United States: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (86) ◽  
pp. 1-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa J. Dettling ◽  
◽  
Sebastian J. Devlin-Foltz ◽  
Jacob Krimmel ◽  
Sarah J. Pack ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Household Accounts

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.

scholarly journals Universal Baby Bonds Reduce Black-White Wealth Inequality, Progressively Raise Net Worth of All Young Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Zewde
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
Racial Inequalities ◽  
Net Worth ◽  
Distribution Of Wealth ◽  
Wealth Inequalities ◽  
Racial Lines

The distribution of wealth has grown increasingly unequal, especially along racial lines. Lawmakers and researchers propose to address the issue with universal “baby bonds,” paid to every newborn and preserved until young adulthood. Bond values are tied inversely to wealth up to a $50,000 maximum investment. This study uses longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics on the assets of young adults to simulate contemporary racial inequalities under a counterfactual policy environment in which the United States had administered baby bonds when the current cohort of young adults were newborns. Initial bond values are defined categorically by quintiles of household wealth observed in 1989 and 1994, smoothed across the inverse hyperbolic sine of household wealth, and then assumed to grow at 2% per year through 2015. Without baby bonds, young White Americans hold approximately 16 times the wealth of young Black Americans at the median ($46,000 vs. $2,900). Baby bonds reduce the disparity to a factor of 1.4 ($79,143 vs. $57,845), in the absence of intervening behavioral responses to the policy. The share held by the top decile decreases from 72% to 65%, marginally approaching the more egalitarian societies. Baby bonds considerably narrow wealth inequalities while simultaneously improving the net asset position of young adults and alleviating asset concentration.

What Do We Know about the Evolution of Top Wealth Shares in the United States?

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Kopczuk
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fixed Income ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
Estate Tax ◽  
Consumer Finances ◽  
Wealth Concentration ◽  
Top Incomes ◽  
Mortality Improvements ◽  
Over Time

I discuss available evidence about the evolution of top wealth shares in the United States over the course of the 20th century. The three main approaches—the Survey of Consumer Finances, estate tax multiplier, and capitalization methods—generate generally consistent findings until mid-1980s but diverge since then, with the capitalization method showing a dramatic increase in wealth concentration and the other two methods showing at best a small increase. I discuss strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. The increase in capitalization estimates since 2000 is driven by a dramatic and puzzling increase in fixed income assets. There is evidence that estate tax estimates may not be sufficiently accounting for mortality improvements over time. The nonresponse and coverage issues in the SCF are a concern. I conclude that the changing nature of top incomes and the increased importance of self-made wealth may explain difficulties in implementing each of the methods and why the results diverge.

Improving the Measurement of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Survey of Consumer Finances

FEDS Notes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2945) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin B. Moore ◽  
◽  
Karen M. Pence ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ethnic Disparities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Racial And Ethnic Disparities ◽  
Survey Of Consumer Finances ◽  
Consumer Finances

The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is one of the main data sources in the United States for assessing and analyzing differences in wealth and financial well-being across families. In recent years, the SCF estimates of racial and ethnic wealth gaps have garnered considerable attention, in part because these disparities are so large and persistent.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document