Comparison of Piketty and Saez’s results with Sommeiller and Price’s U.S. results
From Table 1. Income growth from 1979 to 2007, overall and for the top 1% and bottom 99%, U.S. and by state and region
| Average real income growth | Share of total growth (or loss) captured by top 1% | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Overall | Top 1% | Bottom 99% | |
| Sommeiller and Price | 36.9% | 200.5% | 18.9% | 53.9% |
| Piketty and Saez | 37.3% | 224.0% | 16.6% | 59.8% |
From Table 2. Top 1% share of all income, U.S. and by state and region, 1928, 1979, 2007
| Change in income share of the top 1% (percentage points) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source | 1928 | 1979 | 2007 | 1928–1979 | 1979–2007 |
| Sommeiller and Price | 23.4 | 9.9 | 21.8 | -13.4 | 11.8 |
| Piketty and Saez | 23.9 | 9.0 | 19.6 | -15.0 | 10.7 |
From Table 3. Income growth from 2009 to 2011, overall and for the top 1% and bottom 99%, U.S. and by state and region
| Average real income growth | Share of total growth (or loss) captured by top 1% | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Overall | Top 1% | Bottom 99% | |
| Sommeiller and Price | 1.5% | 11.5% | -0.7% | 140.9% |
| Piketty and Saez | 1.3% | 9.9% | -0.6% | 135.6% |
From Table 4. Ratio of top 1% income to bottom 99% income, U.S. and by state and region, 2011
| Source | Average income of the bottom 99% | Average income of the top 1% | Top-to-bottom ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sommeiller and Price | $42,694 | $1,040,506 | 24.4 |
| Piketty and Saez | $42,766 | $1,035,217 | 24.2 |
From Table 5. Income threshold of top 1% and top .01%, and average income of top .01%, U.S. and by state and region, 2011
| Source | Income threshold of top 1% | Income threshold of top .01% | Average income of top .01% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sommeiller and Price | $348,498 | $7,508,585 | $23,381,212 |
| Piketty and Saez | $361,034 | $7,956,076 | $22,772,975 |
Note: Data are for tax units.
Source: Authors' analysis of state-level tax data from Sommeiller (2006) extended to 2011 using state-level data from the Internal Revenue Service SOI Tax Stats (various years), and Piketty and Saez (2012)
