Top Heavy: A Study of the Increasing Inequality of Wealth in America (A Twentieth Century Fund Report) [Paperback]

Edward N. Wolff (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 93 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Inst Pr (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870783602
• ISBN-13: 978-0870783609
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,000,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A log-normal distribution, March 16, 2005

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Heavy: A Study of the Increasing Inequality of Wealth in America (A Twentieth Century Fund Report) (Paperback)

Edward N. Wolff's study is an extremely clear statistical analysis of a for many reasons rather misty affair: wealth distribution in the US.

His conclusion is that 'in 1989 the top 1 % of US families owned 48 percent of total US wealth'.

His book confirms the ground-breaking sociological studies of William G. Domhoff.

As Richard C. Leone remarks in his excellent introduction: ' We Americans have always flattered ourselves that we have more of two good things than almost anyone else: democracy and opportunity. To be sure, neither is simple.'
For, beneath the top heavy wealthy lays the vast majority of US citizens with their burdens of debt, while a lower part hasn't even social security.

In order to rectify the skewed situation, the author proposed a modest wealth tax, which at the top would not have been more than 10 %. Unfortunately, US fiscal policy went the other way round: taxation on the wealthy was further reduced.

This short study (with many illustrative tables) is a must read for economists and laymen.