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Distributing Personal Income: Trends Over Time

Author

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  • Dennis Fixler
  • Marina Gindelsky
  • David Johnson

Abstract

This paper constructs a distribution of Personal Income for the United States (2007-2016) to investigate the relationship between inequality and macroeconomic growth. We extend a perspective first presented in Fixler and Johnson (2014) and further developed in Fixler et al. (2017) and Fixler, Gindelsky, and Johnson (2018, 2019) to develop a national account-based measure using a decade of publicly available survey, tax, and administrative data. By using (equivalized) households as the base unit of analysis and focusing on a more inclusive definition of income than most inequality studies (i.e., including health, transfers, and financial assets), we improve on existing economic measures of inequality in a meaningful way and bridge the gap between micro data and macro statistics. We produce a wide set of inequality results over the period, drawing a comparison with other studies (including Auten and Splinter (2019) and Piketty, Saez, and Zucman (2018)).

Suggested Citation

  • Dennis Fixler & Marina Gindelsky & David Johnson, 2020. "Distributing Personal Income: Trends Over Time," NBER Working Papers 26996, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26996
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dennis Fixler & Marina Gindelsky & David Johnson, 2019. "Improving the Measure of the Distribution of Personal Income," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 302-306, May.
    2. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    3. Simon Kuznets & Elizabeth Jenks, 1953. "Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Savings (1953)," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kuzn53-1.
    4. Dennis Fixler & David S. Johnson, 2014. "Accounting for the Distribution of Income in the U.S. National Accounts," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Economic Sustainability and Progress, pages 213-244, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(2), pages 553-609.
    6. Simon Kuznets & Elizabeth Jenks, 1953. "Shares of Upper Income Groups in Savings," NBER Chapters, in: Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Savings (1953), pages 171-218, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. N/A, 2015. "The UK economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 231(1), pages 3-3, February.
    8. N/A, 2015. "The UK Economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 233(1), pages 3-3, August.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4vsqk7docb9nmophtp29pk68cr is not listed on IDEAS
    10. N/A, 2015. "The UK Economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 234(1), pages 3-3, November.
    11. Bilal Habib, 2018. "How CBO Adjusts for Survey Underreporting of Transfer Income in Its Distributional Analyses: Working Paper 2018-07," Working Papers 54234, Congressional Budget Office.
    12. N/A, 2015. "The UK economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 232(1), pages 3-3, May.
    13. Christopher R. Bollinger & Barry T. Hirsch & Charles M. Hokayem & James P. Ziliak, 2019. "Trouble in the Tails? What We Know about Earnings Nonresponse 30 Years after Lillard, Smith, and Welch," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(5), pages 2143-2185.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marina Gindelsky, 2022. "Do transfers lower inequality between households? Demographic evidence from Distributional National Accounts," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1233-1257, July.
    2. Dennis Fixler & Marina Gindelsky & David Johnson, 2020. "Measuring Inequality in the National Accounts," BEA Working Papers 0175, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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