There is substantial evidence that income inequality in America rose throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Influential research by Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman finds that inequality has risen markedly, with the top 1% of taxpayers’ share of after-tax-and-transfer income rising from 9% in 1960 to 15% in 2019.

However, recently published work by Gerald Auten and David Splinter paints a different picture. The authors find that inequality has barely budged, with the top 1% receiving 9% of after-tax income in 2019, up only slightly from 8% in 1960.

Remarkably, the two author teams use the same income concept and the same data to generate these contrasting results. How can such different conclusions arise given the similarity in approach? What is the right way to characterize income inequality? William G. Gale, John Sabelhaus, and Samuel I. Thorpe provide their assessment.

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