Deconstructing Income and Income Inequality Measures: A Crosswalk from Market Income to Comprehensive Income
研究使用统一数据集，比较不同收入度量方法对美国收入不平等趋势的敏感性，发现基于IRS报税数据的市场收入或包含已实现资本利得的度量会夸大不平等增长，而采用年度应计资本利得则显著降低不平等增长。
Recent research on levels and trends in the United States in income inequality vary substantially in how they measure income. We show the sensitivity of alternative income measures in capturing income trends using a unified data set. Focusing solely on market income or including realized taxable capital gains based on IRS tax return data in more comprehensive household income measures will dramatically increase inequality growth compared to capital gains measures more in keeping with Haig-Simons principles. Using a measure of yearly accrued capital gains dramatically reduces observed growth in income inequality across the distribution, but also equalizes income growth since 1989.