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Recent Trends in the Distribution of Income: Labor, Wealth and More Complete Measures of Well Being

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  • Jeffrey Thompson
  • Timothy M. Smeeding

Abstract

>The impact of the great recession on inequality is unclear. Because the crises in the housing and stock markets and mass job loss affect incomes from across the entire distribution, the overall impact on inequality is difficult to determine. Early speculation using a variety of narrow measures of earnings, income and consumption yield contradictory results. In this paper, we develop new estimates of income inequality based on ‘more complete income’ (MCI), which augments standard income measures with those that are accrued from the ownership of wealth. We use the 1989-2007 Surveys of Consumer Finances, and also construct MCI measures for 2009 based on projections of assets, income, and earnings. We investigate the level and trend in MCI inequality and compare it to other estimates of overall and ‘high incomes’ in the literature. Compared to standard measures of income, MCI suggests higher levels of inequality and slightly larger increases in inequality over time. Several MCI-based inequality measures peaked in 2007 at their highest levels in twenty years. The combined impact of the “great recession” on the housing, stock, and labor markets after 2007 has reduced some measures of income inequality at the top of the MCI distribution. Despite declining from the 2007 peak, however, inequality remains as high as levels experienced earlier in the decade, and much higher than most points over the last twenty years. In the middle of the income distribution, the declines in income from wealth after 2007 were the result of diminished value of residential real estate; at the top of the distribution declines in the value of business assets had the greatest impact. We also assess the level and trend in the functional distribution of income between capital and labor, and find a rising share of income accruing to real capital or wealth from 1989 to 2007. The recent economic crisis has diminished the capital share back to levels from 2004. Contrary to the findings of other researchers, we find that the labor share of income among high-income groups declined between 1992 and 2007.

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  • Jeffrey Thompson & Timothy M. Smeeding, 2010. "Recent Trends in the Distribution of Income: Labor, Wealth and More Complete Measures of Well Being," Working Papers wp225, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    • Handle: RePEc:uma:periwp:wp225
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    1. Wealth and Inequality in Britain
      by Brian Ashcroft in Scottish Economy Watch on 2012-07-16 22:37:49

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    2. Fairfield, Tasha & Jorratt, Michel, 2014. "Top income shares, business profits, and effective tax rates in contemporary Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 56016, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Jeffrey Thompson, 2010. "Prioritizing Approaches to Economic Development in New England: Skills, Infrastructure, and Tax Incentives," Published Studies priorities_september7_per, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    4. Davies, James B. & Yu, Xiaoyu, 2013. "Impacts of Cyclical Downturns on the Third Pillar of the RIS and Policy Responses," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2013-20, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 29 Apr 2013.
    5. Heshmati, Almas & Kim, Jungsuk, 2014. "A Survey of the Role of Fiscal Policy in Addressing Income Inequality, Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth," IZA Discussion Papers 8119, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Atolia Manoj & Kurokawa Yoshinori, 2021. "Entry Costs, Task Variety, and Skill Flexibility: A Simple Theory of (Top) Income Skewness," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 97-124, January.
    7. Branko Milanovic & Tasha Fairfield & Michel Jorratt De Luis, 2016. "Top Income Shares, Business Profits, and Effective Tax Rates in Contemporary Chile," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62, pages 120-144, August.
    8. Philip Armour & Richard V. Burkhauser & Jeff Larrimore, 2013. "Levels and Trends in United States Income and Its Distribution A Crosswalk from Market Income Towards a Comprehensive Haig-Simons Income Approach," NBER Working Papers 19110, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Edward Harris & Frank Sammartino, 2014. "Trends in the Distribution of Household Income, 1979–2010," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Economic Sustainability and Progress, pages 181-211, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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