Social Security and Trends in Wealth Inequality

This article examines how including Social Security wealth changes measured trends in U.S. wealth inequality. The authors show that while conventional measures suggest large increases in wealth concentration, accounting for the present value of Social Security benefits substantially alters this picture. Social Security wealth grew dramatically between 1989 and 2019 and now represents a large share of total wealth for the bottom 90% of households. The findings suggest that wealth inequality has remained considerably more stable over recent decades than previously estimated when social insurance wealth is properly incorporated into household balance sheets.