Wealth Concentration, Income Distribution, and Alternatives for the USA

Abstract

US household wealth concentration is not likely to decline in response to fiscal interventions alone. Creation of an independent public wealth fund could lead to greater equality. Similarly, once-off tax/transfer packages or wage increases will not reduce income inequality significantly; on-going wage increases in excess of productivity growth would be needed. These results come from the accounting in a simulation model based on national income and financial data. The theory behind the model borrows from ideas that originated in Cambridge UK (especially from Luigi Pasinetti and Richard Goodwin).

Keywords: Wealth distribution, income distribution, Cambridge theory

JEL Classification: D31, D33, D58, B50