ABSTRACT
Economists differentiate between wealth, a stock of value such as a house, and income, a flow of value over time such as a salary or interest payment. Data on wealth and income typically come from different sources, each with its own set of problems. There is relatively little information on the distribution of wealth in the United States. one reason for the scarcity is the difficulty of measurement: Because many items of wealth have not been sold recently, they do not have a readily identifiable price. A second reason for the lack of data on wealth is its ownership by a relatively small group whose members are not eager to share information about how much wealth they own. As the controversies below illustrate, this second factor severely restricts how much we know about wealth.
