May 2018 | THOMAS PIKETTY, EMMANUEL SAEZ, GABRIEL ZUCMAN
This article presents distributional national accounts for the United States, estimating the distribution of national income since 1913 using tax, survey, and national accounts data. The estimates capture 100% of national income, allowing for consistent growth rate calculations across income quantiles. The study finds that average pretax real national income per adult increased 60% from 1980 to 2014, but the bottom 50% stagnated at about $16,000 annually. Middle-class income (median to 90th percentile) grew 40%, faster than tax and survey data suggest, due to tax-exempt fringe benefits. Top incomes boomed, with the top 1% income rising from $420,000 to $1.3 million, and their income share increasing from 12% to 20%. The bottom 50% share fell from 20% to 12%, while the top 1% share now is almost twice as large as the bottom 50% share.
Government redistribution has only slightly offset the increase in inequality. Transfers to the bottom 50% have not significantly lifted their incomes. The rise in top incomes has mostly been driven by capital income since the late 1990s, not labor income. The gender gap in earnings has narrowed, but women remain underrepresented at the top of the income distribution. Women make up only 16% of the top 1% and 11% of the top 0.1%.
The study introduces a new method to construct micro-files of pretax and posttax income consistent with macro aggregates. These files allow for comprehensive analysis of income distribution, including labor and capital income, taxes, transfers, and wealth. The study also highlights the importance of considering socio-demographic changes in inequality statistics.
The analysis shows that the distribution of national income has become increasingly unequal, with the top 1% capturing a significant share of income growth. The study provides a detailed breakdown of income growth by quantile, showing stark disparities between the bottom 50% and the top 1%. The results underscore the need for more detailed inequality statistics that account for the full distribution of income. The study also emphasizes the role of government redistribution in shaping inequality, and the limitations of existing data sources in capturing the full picture of income distribution.This article presents distributional national accounts for the United States, estimating the distribution of national income since 1913 using tax, survey, and national accounts data. The estimates capture 100% of national income, allowing for consistent growth rate calculations across income quantiles. The study finds that average pretax real national income per adult increased 60% from 1980 to 2014, but the bottom 50% stagnated at about $16,000 annually. Middle-class income (median to 90th percentile) grew 40%, faster than tax and survey data suggest, due to tax-exempt fringe benefits. Top incomes boomed, with the top 1% income rising from $420,000 to $1.3 million, and their income share increasing from 12% to 20%. The bottom 50% share fell from 20% to 12%, while the top 1% share now is almost twice as large as the bottom 50% share.
Government redistribution has only slightly offset the increase in inequality. Transfers to the bottom 50% have not significantly lifted their incomes. The rise in top incomes has mostly been driven by capital income since the late 1990s, not labor income. The gender gap in earnings has narrowed, but women remain underrepresented at the top of the income distribution. Women make up only 16% of the top 1% and 11% of the top 0.1%.
The study introduces a new method to construct micro-files of pretax and posttax income consistent with macro aggregates. These files allow for comprehensive analysis of income distribution, including labor and capital income, taxes, transfers, and wealth. The study also highlights the importance of considering socio-demographic changes in inequality statistics.
The analysis shows that the distribution of national income has become increasingly unequal, with the top 1% capturing a significant share of income growth. The study provides a detailed breakdown of income growth by quantile, showing stark disparities between the bottom 50% and the top 1%. The results underscore the need for more detailed inequality statistics that account for the full distribution of income. The study also emphasizes the role of government redistribution in shaping inequality, and the limitations of existing data sources in capturing the full picture of income distribution.