Inequality and Capitalist Income

[max gr]

Hi Blair,
I'm using the WID data. If you're searching for div./int./C.gains you'll need to look for data constructed with the previous methodology (pre-DINA, based on households). It's still there, but takes some effort digging through the categories. If you want a shortcut, you might find it in Saez's site. Download the excel file from:

"Income Inequality in the United States, 1913-1998" with Thomas Piketty, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(1), 2003, 1-39 (Longer updated version published in A.B. Atkinson and T. Piketty eds., Oxford University Press, 2007) (Tables and Figures Updated to 2015 in Excel format, June 2016)

The top 1% income composition is there, though only presented with the first and second methods I spoke of above.

Btw, S-corporations income won't be registered there as dividends, but as part of entrepreneurial income (in DINA, it will register under "capital component of mixed income" if I recall correctly).

[max gr]

I've added a graph above to complete the picture for the top 1% DINA income ("labor income").

Another disadvantage with disregarding capital gains income (in favor of imputed undistributed earnings), is that capital gains from other assets (not equity) aren't even being approximated.
The neo-liberal epoch seems to be also the epoch of diversified income composition for the rich. The top 0.01% interest income has become more important even since interest rates have gone down. So what about capital gains from buying and selling bonds? It could be quite sizeable, I reckon, but do not register at all on DINA, if I'm not mistaken.

Can we get data for capital gains breakdown by asset type?