US income inequality trend – St. Louis Fed

Online Dating Caused a Rise in US Income Inequality, Research Paper Shows – Bloomberg

“Who people marry has a major impact on household income. The research shows that the two main contributors to inequality through the selection of a future spouse are education and skills. They are followed, to a much lesser extent, by income and age, while race plays a relatively inconsequential role, co-author Paulina Restrepo-Echavarría, an economic policy advisor at the St. Louis Fed, said in a blog post describing the paper.”

In his book “Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization,” Branko Milanovic identified selective mating as one of five forces pushing up inequality in the United States:

1. The increasing share of national income that accrues to owners of capital.

2. Very high and rising concentration of incomes from capital.

3. People holding high-paying jobs also often have high capital income.

4. The tendency of high-income individuals to marry each other.

5. The rising political power of the rich.

Revisiting the work of American economist Simon Kuznets, Milanovic describes how global income economy waxes and wanes in “waves” driven by economic and political forces. 

Milanovic Discusses Book At Brookings

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