Accounting for Wealth Concentration in the United States

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kaymak, Baris; Leung, David; Poschke, Markus
• 署名单位: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Cleveland; National Taiwan University; McGill University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20210174
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: income inequality; US; top; mobility; entrepreneurship; earnings; progressivity; Heterogeneity; frictions; DYNAMICS

摘要

We assess the empirical relevance of different macroeconomic modeling approaches to wealth concentration, using the joint distribution of earnings, capital income, and net worth in combination with an OLG model of household heterogeneity. We find large earnings disparities to be the primary source of US wealth concentration. This reflects the fact that labor income, from salaries but also from entrepreneurship, is a major income source for top income and wealth groups in the data. Bequests and differences in rates of return on capital together explain about half the holdings of the wealthiest households. (JEL D31, E25, G51, J23, J31, L26)