This paper introduces a new long-run data set based on archival data from historical waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances. Studying the joint distribution of household income and wealth, we expose the central importance of portfolio composition and asset prices for wealth dynamics in postwar America. Asset prices shift the wealth distribution because of systematic differences in household portfolios along the wealth distribution. Middle-class portfolios are dominated by housing, while rich households predominantly own business equity. Differential changes in equity and house prices shaped wealth dynamics in postwar America and decoupled the income and wealth distribution over extended periods.

中文翻译：

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美国收入和财富不平等，1949-2016

本文介绍了一个新的长期数据集，该数据集基于消费者财务调查历史波次的档案数据。通过研究家庭收入和财富的联合分配，我们揭示了投资组合构成和资产价格对战后美国财富动态的核心重要性。由于家庭投资组合沿财富分布的系统性差异，资产价格会改变财富分布。中产阶级的投资组合以住房为主，而富裕家庭则主要拥有企业股权。股票和房价的差异变化塑造了战后美国的财富动态，并在较长时期内使收入和财富分配脱钩。