Family, Education, and Sources of Wealth among the Richest Americans, 1982-2012

摘要

It is well known that inequality in earned income has risen around the world and, particularly, in the United States. The share of income accruing to the top 1 percent of households in the United States increased from 10 percent in 1979 to 21.5 percent in 2000. Since 2000 it has fluctuated between 16 percent and 24 percent and stood at 19.8 percent in 2010, according to data from Piketty and Saez (2012). Income inequality increased over the same period in a number of other countries. Inequality in wealth has followed inequality in earnings only to some extent. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), Wolff (2010, 2012) document that the top 1 percent of US households held 33.8 percent of total net worth in 1983, rising to a peak of 38.5 percent in 1995, falling back to 34.6 percent in 2007 and increasing slightly to 35.4 percent in 2010.