Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/215153 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12757
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We provide the first survey-based look at levels and trends in income and its distribution from 1959 to 2016 by linking Current Population Survey data from 1967 through 2016 with decennial Census data for 1959. We find that the dramatic decline in the market income of the middle class (measured as the median American tax unit or the mean value of the middle quintile of American tax units) began in 1969. However, we find that this decline was more than offset by government tax and transfer programs – especially in-kind transfers. Conventional measures of median income and income inequality that exclude the market value of in-kind transfers will substantially understate the impact of government policies in offsetting the stagnation of median market income growth and the rise in market income inequality since 1969.
Subjects: 
long-term growth trends (1959-2016)
median income
income inequality
survey-based CPS data
market income
valuing in-kind transfers
full-income series
JEL: 
D31
C81
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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