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Global Financial Shocks and American Elites

Income and Wealth of the One Percent in the United States, 1989 to 2022

Bibliographic Data

ID3758619
AuthorsL A Keister (0000-0003-3662-8564, Duke University, corresponding author), Hang Young Lee (Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia)
Year2025
Publication date2025-01-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00027642251314628
PMID40881315
OpenAlexW4406947091
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited34

Extreme levels of inequality have drawn increasing attention to those at the top of the income and wealth distributions, and the United States is home to some of the world's most affluent and influential households. A robust literature on economic elites in the United States documented details about their incomes and wealth prior to 2019, but it is unclear how recent economic shocks affected their financial resources and the distribution of income and wealth among U.S. households more broadly. We contribute to the literatures on elite households and global political economies by exploring the association between the global economic shock that accompanied the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) pandemic and U.S. income and wealth. We use data from the 1989 to 2022 of Consumer Finances (SCF) to provide details regarding changing inequality and the incomes and wealth of the top one percent of households. We explore changes in income sources (e.g., wage, business, capital) and wealth components (e.g., real estate, financial assets) to identify reasons for changing resource composition. We study how the demographics-age and education-of the one percent have changed, and we also explore whether the double-rich-those with both top incomes and top wealth-have changed. Our results are among the first to document the current concentration of economic resources in the United States and underscore the need to incorporate global processes in understanding inequalities in major economies

Demographic economics · Development economics · Distribution (mathematics) · Economic growth · Economic inequality · Economics · Elite · Inequality · National wealth · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Real estate · Employment and Welfare Studies · Finance · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism

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    Open Access•L A Keister•Social Sciences•2026

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    Open Access•L A Keister, Josh Gaghan•Sociological Forum•2025

  • Top wealth households in China and the United States

    Open Access•Hang Young Lee, X Fan et al.•International Journal of…•2025

  • Capital in the Twenty-First Century

    Thomas Piketty, Arthur Goldhammer•Capital in the Twenty-First Century•2017

  • Wealth in America

    Open Access•L A Keister•Wealth in America•2000

  • Divested

    Ken-Hou Lin, Megan Tobias Neely•Divested•2020

  • The Sum of Small Things

    Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, Elizabeth Currid‐halkett•Sum of Small Things•2017

  • Why Has CEO Pay Increased So Much?

    Xavier Gabaix, Augustin Landier•The Quarterly Journal of Economics•2008

  • Income Dynamics, Economic Rents, and the Financialization of the U.S. Economy

    Open Access•D Tomaskovic-Devey, Ken-Hou Lin•American Sociological Review•2011

  • Getting Rich

    Open Access•L A Keister•Getting Rich•2005

  • Uneasy Street

    Rachel Sherman•Uneasy Street•2017

  • The Undeserving Rich

    Open Access•Leslie Mccall•Undeserving Rich•2013

  • Separate Spheres

    Open Access•J E Yavorsky, L A Keister et al.•Social Forces•2023

  • Social Class, Gender, and Contemporary Parenting Standards in the United States

    Open Access•Patrick Ishizuka•Social Forces•2019

  • Economic Elites, Investments, and Income Inequality

    Michael Nau•Social Forces•2013

  • Mobility, Inequality, and Beliefs About Distribution and Redistribution

    Open Access•George Wilson, J Roscigno et al.•Social Forces•2022

  • One step forward? Advances and setbacks on the path toward gender equality in families and work

    Open Access•Thebaud, Laura Halcomb•Sociology Compass•2019

  • Household wealth and the measurement of economic well-being in the United States

    Open Access•Edward N Wolff, Ajit Zacharias•The Journal of Economic Inequality•2007

  • This Should be My Responsibility”

    Open Access•Amanda Moras•Gender Issues•2016

  • The double one percent

    Open Access•L A Keister, Hang Young Lee•Research in Social Stratification…•2017

  • Financialization and U.S. Income Inequality, 1970–2008

    Ken-Hou Lin, D Tomaskovic-Devey•American Journal of Sociology•2013

  • Wealth Disparities Before and After the Great Recession

    Open Access•F T Pfeffer, Sheldon Danziger et al.•The Annals of the American…•2013

  • Billionaire Wilderness

    Open Access•John Dwight Hines•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•2021

  • Pathways to the power elite

    Open Access•C H Ellersgaard, Jacob Aagaard Lunding et al.•The Sociological Review•2019

  • Do You Need Business Assets to Be Rich

    Open Access•L A Keister, Mingxiang Li et al.•Socius Sociological Research for…•2021

  • The Buffering Effect of State Eviction and Foreclosure Policies for Mental Health during the Covid-19 Pandemic in the United States

    Open Access•Courtney Boen, L A Keister et al.•Journal of Health and Social…•2023

  • Wealth and Stratification Processes

    Seymour Spilerman•Annual Review of Sociology•2000

  • The Sociology of Elites

    Shamus Khan, Shamus Rahman Khan•Annual Review of Sociology•2012

  • The One Percent

    L A Keister•Annual Review of Sociology•2014

  • Wealth Inequality and Accumulation

    Alexandra Killewald, F T Pfeffer et al.•Annual Review of Sociology•2017

  • Gender in the Elite

    L A Keister, Thebaud et al.•Annual Review of Sociology•2022

  • Educational Assortative Mating and Income Dynamics in Couples

    Open Access•Y Qian•Journal of Marriage and the Family•2018

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    T Diprete, Thomas A Diprete et al.•American Journal of Sociology•2010

Unique citing works3
Citations per year3
Citation span2025 - 2026 (2)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 3

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