The View From the Top The richest 20% of own 88 9% of all wealth* U.S. families...
And economists are also divided on just how to define and measure inequality. As Federal Reserve economist Arthur Kennickell wrote in a 2009 paper, “‘Inequality’ may seem a simple term, but operationally it may mean many different things, depending on the point of view.” Most researchers agree that wealth is more unevenly distributed than income, while consumption is less concentrated at the upper end than either wealth or income.
The View From the Top  | The richest 20% of  | own 88 9% of all wealth*  | U.S. families...  | 100%  | 100%  | $  | The of U.S. highest-earning families... 20%  | of U.S. highest-earning families...  | earned 61.8% of all income*  | $  | The U.S. highest- households earning 20% of  | accounted expenditures for about 38% of  | U.S. highest- households earning  | accounted total expenditures **  | $  | 2013, ** 2010  | Sources: Edward N. Wolff, House hold Wealth Trends in the United States,  | 1962 2013: What Happened Over the Great Recession?" NBER Working Paper  | 20733 December 2014: Kevin A Hassett and Aparna Mathur, a New Measure  | Consumption Inequa lity, Ame rican Ente Irprise Institute, June 2012.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 