Accounting for Wealth Concentration in the United States

Baris Kaymak, David Leung and Markus Poschke

American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2026, vol. 18, issue 1, 187-222

Abstract: We assess the empirical relevance of different macroeconomic modeling approaches to wealth concentration, using the joint distribution of earnings, capital income, and net worth in combination with an OLG model of household heterogeneity. We find large earnings disparities to be the primary source of US wealth concentration. This reflects the fact that labor income, from salaries but also from entrepreneurship, is a major income source for top income and wealth groups in the data. Bequests and differences in rates of return on capital together explain about half the holdings of the wealthiest households.

JEL-codes: D31 E25 G51 J23 J31 L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Working Paper: Accounting for Wealth Concentration in the United States (2022)
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DOI: 10.1257/mac.20210174

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