US income inequality roughly doubled between 1980 and 2007.

Evidence

The highest-earning 1 per cent of Americans doubled their share of aggregate income (not including capital gains) from 8 per cent in 1980 to over 18 per cent in 2007. The top 0.1 per cent (about 150,000 taxpayers) quadrupled their share, from 2 per cent to 8 per cent. Including capital gains makes the increase in inequality even sharper, with the top 1 per cent getting 23 per cent of all income by 2007. During the seven-year economic expansion of the Clinton administration, the top 1 per cent captured 45 per cent of the total growth in pre-tax income; while during the four-year expansion of the Bush administration the top 1 per cent captured 73 per cent. … This is not a misprint. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 59

Categorization

• SHARE: The Bush-era figure — top 1% captured 73% of income growth — is a precise number an economics-focused friend would appreciate.
• XREF: connects to: The college wage premium roughly doubled between the late 1970s and the 2000s. — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 32; Income segregation rose sharply in US cities from 1970 to 1990; Financialization raises earnings inequality across most US industries — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 152 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• US top income share rose 636 percent while bottom wages stagnated since 1980 #expands (0.90) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 454
• The college wage premium roughly doubled between the late 1970s and the 2000s. #corroborates (0.85) — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 32
• Financialization raises earnings inequality across most US industries #expands (0.85) — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 152
• Income segregation rose sharply in US cities from 1970 to 1990 #expands (0.80)
• Financialization drives earnings inequality nearly as much as declining unionization #expands (0.80) — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 164
• Financial-sector workers’ pay since the 1980s far outstripped national averages, driving inequality. #expands (0.80) — Gerald F. Davis & Suntae Kim, Financialization of the Economy, 76
• Sixty-five percent of recent US income growth went to the top one percent #expands (0.78) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 655
• Rentier income share rose broadly across OECD countries in recent decades. #expands (0.75) — Greta R. Krippner, The Financialization of the American…, 16
• The Reagan-Thatcher era redistributed wealth from poor to rich rather than abandoning Keynesianism #expands (0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 601
• Asset distribution drives wealth inequality and social stratification. #expands (0.72) — Paul Langley, Assets and Assetization in…, 8