Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States
The authors combine tax, survey, and national accounts data to build distributional national accounts that allocate 100% of U.S. national income to individuals from 1913 onward. This lets them measure income growth consistently with macroeconomic aggregates across the entire distribution, both before and after taxes and transfers. They document a sharp rise in top income shares and stagnation at the bottom since 1980.