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Article: Changes in income inequality across the U.S.
- Article from:
- FRBSF Economic Letter
- Article date:
- September 21, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Over the past four decades, overall income inequality has increased in the U.S. One particularly striking feature of the data is that the income gap has widened most between the top and the middle of the distribution, while it has remained relatively stable between the middle and the bottom. The causal forces behind the increase in inequality have been a topic of much debate among the public, the media, and policymakers (see, for example, Yellen 2006), as well as a rich field of research for economists.
Underlying these inequality trends are considerable differences across regions. Relating these differences to regional characteristics could help identify the ...