Declining earnings inequality, rising income inequality: What explains discordant inequality trends in the United States?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Parolin, Zachary; Lehner, Lukas; Wilmers, Nathan
• 署名单位: Bocconi University; University of Edinburgh; Vienna University of Economics & Business; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105337
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: earnings inequality; income inequality; Household composition; Secondary earners; Government transfers

摘要

From 2010 to 2019, personal earnings inequality declined in the United States (U.S.) for the first time in decades, yet household income inequality continued to increase. Discordance between the inequality trends reached its highest rate in recent history. We introduce a framework to decompose differences in inequality trends. We find that 46% of post-2010 discordance in inequality trends is due to changing household composition, namely a larger share of young workers living with their parents and combining low (but increasing) personal earnings with high household incomes. The remaining discordance stems from increases in private income among higher-earning households and declining redistributive effects of government transfers. Declines in personal earnings inequality do not imply declines in household income inequality.