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Trends in Household Wealth in the United States, 1962-83 and 1983-89

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  • Wolff, Edward N

Abstract

Using the 1983 and 1989 Surveys of Consumer Finances, I find evidence of sharply increasing household wealth inequality over this period. Whereas mean wealth increased by 23 percent in real terms, median wealth grew by only 8 percent. The share of the top one-half percentile rose by five percentage points, while the wealth of the bottom two quintiles showed an absolute decline. The Gini coefficient increased from 0.80 to 0.84. Almost all the growth in real wealth accrued to the top 20 percent of wealthholders. In contrast, the degree of wealth inequality was almost identical in 1983 as in 1962, and real wealth growth was more evenly distributed across the wealth distribution. There is also evidence that the sharp increase in wealth inequality from 1983 to 1989 was due to a correspondingly sharp rise in income inequality, the increase of stock prices relative to housing prices, and relatively slow inflation. Copyright 1994 by The International Association for Research in Income and Wealth.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolff, Edward N, 1994. "Trends in Household Wealth in the United States, 1962-83 and 1983-89," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 40(2), pages 143-174, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:40:y:1994:i:2:p:143-74
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    Cited by:

    1. Badu, Yaw A. & Daniels, Kenneth N. & Salandro, Daniel P., 1999. "An empirical analysis of differences in Black and White asset and liability combinations," Financial Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 129-147.
    2. Rendon, Silvio, 2007. "Does Wealth Explain BlackWhite Differences in Early Employment Careers?," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 25, pages 484-500, October.
    3. Pedro Cavalcanti Ferreira & Marcelo Rodrigues dos Santos, 2013. "The Effect of Social Security, Health, Demography and Technology on Retirement," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(2), pages 350-370, April.
    4. Edward N. Wolff, "undated". "Racial Wealth Disparities Is the Gap Closing?," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_66, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. Hochgürtel, S. & van Soest, A.H.O., 1996. "The Relation Between Financial and Housing Wealth of Dutch Households," Discussion Paper 1996-82, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    6. Hochguertel, Stefan & van Soest, Arthur, 2001. "The Relation between Financial and Housing Wealth: Evidence from Dutch Households," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 374-403, March.
    7. Ventura, Gustavo, 1999. "Flat tax reform: A quantitative exploration," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 23(9-10), pages 1425-1458, September.
    8. Per Krusell & Toshihiko Mukoyama & Aysegul Sahin & Anthony A. Smith, Jr., 2009. "Revisiting the Welfare Effects of Eliminating Business Cycles," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(3), pages 393-402, July.
    9. Michael S. Gutter & Charles B. Hatcher, 2008. "Racial Differences in the Demand for Life Insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 75(3), pages 677-689, September.
    10. James M. Poterba & Andrew A. Samwick, 1995. "Stock Ownership Patterns, Stock Market Fluctuations, and Consumption," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(2), pages 295-372.
    11. Manuela Deidda, 2015. "Economic Hardship, Housing Cost Burden and Tenure Status: Evidence from EU-SILC," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 531-556, December.
    12. Brian Nolan, 1997. "Collecting and Using Survey Information on Household Assets: Some Lessons from Irish Experience," Papers WP086, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    13. Edward N. Wolff, 2016. "Deconstructing Household Wealth Trends in the United States, 1983 - 2013," NBER Working Papers 22704, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Alan G. Isaac, 2014. "The Intergenerational Propagation of Wealth Inequality," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(4), pages 571-584, November.
    15. Alan J. Auerbach & Kevin Hassett, 2015. "Capital Taxation in the 21st Century," NBER Working Papers 20871, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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