April 2008

Found the top graph via Paul Krugman’s blog. It is from a paper by Larry Bartels, professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University.

{Click on the image to take a closer look}

I found a second graph in the same paper, showing the income inequality year to year (the 80/20 ratio measures the income inequality by dividing the income earned by someone at the 80th percentile by someone at the 20th percentile). Additionally, Bartels has highlighted the years Democrats and Republicans held the White House. Like a number of graphs on my site, you can see the increase in income inequality since the early 70s.

{Click on the image to take a closer look}

Data in the graphs are calculated from the Historical Income Inequality Tables compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Addendum

5/2/08 Fix my definition of 80/20 income ratio

[tags]income, United States, inequality, Bartels[/tags]

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