Household net worth increased by $4.8 trillion in the third quarter of 2024, primarily driven by gains on corporate equity assets. The net worth of households and nonprofit organizations reached $168.8 trillion in the third quarter. In the U.S., the wealthiest half of households own about 97.5% of national wealth; … Continue reading
Category Archives: Inequality
Credit Suisse Global Wealth Pyramid 2022
A large base of low wealth holders underpins higher tiers occupied by progressively fewer adults. We estimate that 2.8 billion individuals – 53% of all adults in the world – had wealth below USD 10,000 in 2022. The next segment, covering those with wealth in the range of USD 10,000–100,000, … Continue reading
Poverty, Inequality, and Hydrogen
“Unlike some other calculations, those relating to poverty have no intrinsic value of their own. They exist only in order to help us make them disappear from the scene…. With imagination, faith and hope, we might succeed in wiping out the scourge of poverty even if we don’t agree on … Continue reading
Income Inequality Report – 2018
On December 14, 2017 renowned economists Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman, Facundo Alvaredo, Lucas Chancel and Thomas Piketty published a comprehensive and exhaustively researched World Inequality Report. Here’s a summary of what they found. Income inequality has increased in nearly all world regions in recent decades, but at different speeds. In … Continue reading
Avatar Income
Background According to the 2016 World Economic Forum, “the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which includes developments in previously disjointed fields requiring college degrees such as artificial intelligence and machine-learning, robotics, nanotechnology, 3-D printing, and genetics and biotechnology, will cause widespread disruption not only to business models but also to labor markets … Continue reading
Deeds, Not Ineffective Rhetoric
July 14, 2017 The comings and goings of the Trumps and Clintons are but skillful distractions from the grave issues afflicting our country and the world: climate change, the global water crisis, the flat-out refusal of the world’s nuclear powers to eliminate humanity’s sword of Damocles, the lack of commitment … Continue reading
Distribution of Wealth in the U.S.
April 22, 2017 In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in relatively few hands. As of 2013, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 36.7% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 52.2%, which means that just … Continue reading