Reports of rising income inequality during the 1980s have recently
appeared more frequently in the press and mass media. According to one
report released by the Congressional Budget Office earlier this year, the top
one percent of income recipients accounted for a staggering 77 percent of the
before-tax real income growth of American families between 1977 and 1989
and 60 percent of the after-tax real income gains. This paper finds a similar
trend occurred for household wealth.