Table of Contents
Preface xi
I Recent Developments in Personal Wealth
1 Plan of the Book and Historical Backdrop 3
2 Trends in Household Wealth, 1962 to 2013 39
3 Changing Portfolio Composition and the Rate of Return on Household Wealth 86
4 International Comparisons of Household Wealth Inequality 139
II Mechanisms Behind Changing Wealth Inequality
5 Deconstructing Wealth Trends, 1983-2013 177
6 Age-Wealth Profiles and the Life Cycle Model: Implications for Wealth Accumulation 211
7 Inheritances and the Distribution of Wealth 262
8 The Role of Social Security and Private Pensions 311
III Who Are the Rich and the Poor?
9 Wealth Differences among Socioeconomic Groups 369
10 Who Are the Rich? A Demographic Profile of High-Income and High-Wealth Americans 436
11 The Persistence of Asset Poverty 492
IV Wealth over the Long Term
12 Long-Term Trends in Aggregate Household Wealth 553
13 Long-Term Trends in the Concentration of Household Wealth 589
V Tax Policy and Conclusion
14 Wealth Taxation 619
15 Summary of Principal Findings and Concluding Comments 650
Appendix 1 Adjustments and Imputations Made to the 1962 SFCC and 1983, 1989, 1992, and 1995 SCF Data Files 685
Appendix 2 Construction of the 1969 MESP Dataset 711
Appendix 3 Estimation of Retirement Wealth 731
Notes 747
References 815
Acknowledgments 837
Index 839