This article estimates the relative sizes of U.S. income distribution (e.g., market wages; dividends) and income redistribution (e.g., income maintenance; theft; inheritance; government subsidies). Using fairly conventional concepts and conservative estimates, it finds that half of individual income is from sources with significant redistributive qualities. Several implications are discussed. Most notably, the size and scope of redistribution suggest that it is intrinsic to the market. Seen in this way, redistribution is a costly overhead of operating a market system.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abramovitz, Mimi
. 1983. Everyone Is On Welfare: "The Role of Redistribution in Social Policy" Revisited. Social Work28(6): 440-445.
2.
Anthony, Robert N. and David W. Young. 1988. Homewood, IL: Irwin.
3.
Boulding, Kenneth E.
and Martin Pfaff. 1972. Distribution Effects of the Grants Economy: An Introduction. In, Redistribution to the Rich and the Poor; The Grants Economics of Income Distribution, Kenneth E. Boulding & Martin Pfaff (eds.). pp. 1-11. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.
4.
Boulding, Kenneth E.
and Thomas Frederick Wilson (eds.). 1978. Redistribution Through the Financial System: The Grants Economics of Money and Credit. New York: Praeger.
5.
Buckley, William R., Jr
. September 28, 1993. Springfield Union-News.
6.
Chester, Ronald
. 1982. Inheritance, Wealth, and Society. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
7.
Comer, Michael J.1977. Corporate Fraud. London: McGraw-Hill (UK).
8.
Danziger, Sheldon
, Robert Haveman and Robert Plotnick. 1981. How Income Transfer Programs Affect Work, Savings, and the Income Distribution: A Critical Review. Journal of Economic Literature (September), 975-1028.
9.
Ferman, Louis A., Stuart Henry and Michele Hoyman (eds.). 1987. The Informal Economy. Special Volume of the Annals of the American Academty of Political and Social Science, 493 (September).
10.
Gardiner, John A.
, Shirley W. Hentzell and Theodore R. Lyman. 1982. Fraud in Government Benefit Programs: Suggested State/Local Prevention Strategies (Contract No. J-LEAA-013-78). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.
11.
Gil, David
. 1992. Unraveling Social Policy, 5th Ed.Cambridge, MA: Schenkman.
12.
Gilbert, Neil
and Harry Specht. 1974. Dimensions of Social Wefare Policy. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
13.
Hayge, Howard V.1991. Volunteers in the U.S.: Who Donates Time?Monthly Labor Review114(2), 17-23.
14.
Hoffman, Mark S.
(ed.). 1990. The World Almanac and Book of Facts. New York: Scripps Howard.
15.
Horvath, Janos
. 1982. Grants Economics. In, Encyclopedia of Economics, D. Greenwald (ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
16.
Huff, Daniel D.1992. Upside-down Welfare. Public Wefare50(1): 36-47.
17.
Johnson, Barry W.1990. Estate Tax Returns, 1986-1988. Statistics of Income Bulletin9(4): 27-61.
18.
Kahn, Alfred J.1969. Theory and Practice of Social Planning. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
19.
Kozol, Jonathan
. 1991. Savage Inequalities. New York: Crown Publishers.
20.
Krout, John A.1973. United States Since 1865. New York: Barnes & Noble.
21.
Langbein, John H.1988. The Twentieth Century Revolution in Family Wealth Transmission. Occasional Paper from the Law School of Chicago (#25).
22.
Matera, Philip
. 1985. Off the Books: The Rise of the Underground Economy. New York: St. Martin's Press.
23.
Newcomer, Mable
. 1955. The Big Business Executive: The Factors That Made Him. New York: Columbia University Press.
24.
Phillips, Chuck
. 1992 (March 25). Judge OKs Rebates to Settle Milli Vanilli Class-Action Suit. Los Angeles Tunes, D1.
25.
President's Commission on Organized Crime
. 1985. Organized Crime and Gambling. Record of Hearing VII, June 24-26, 1985, New York, New York. Washington, DC: G.P.O.
26.
Scherer, Joseph
. 1978. Implicit Grants in the Financial System: The Case of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. In, Redistribution Through the Financial System: The Grants Economics of Money and Credit, Kenneth E. Boulding and Thomas Frederick Wilson (eds.). pp. 149-154. New York: Praeger.
27.
Schiller, Bradley R.1989. The Economics of Poverty and Discrimination, 5th Ed.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
28.
Schwartz, Marvin
and Barry Johnson. 1990. Statistics of Income Bulletin9(4): 63-78.
29.
Shammas, Carole
, Marylynn Salmon and Michel Dahlin. 1987. Inheritance in America from Colonial Tumes to the Present. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
30.
Stiglitz, Joseph
. 1986. Economics of the Public Sector. New York: W.W. Norton.
31.
Tannenbaum, Paul
. 1978. Income Redistribution and Redistribution. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
32.
Thompson, Allen R.1988. Micro Economics, 2d Ed.Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
33.
Thurow, Lester G.1975. Generating Inequality: Mechanisms of Distribution in the U.S. Economy. New York: Basic Books.
34.
Titmuss, Richard M.1969 (orig. 1955). The Social Division of Welfare: Some Reflections on the Search for Equity. In, Essays on the Welfare State, Rmchard M. Titmuss (ed.). pp. 34-55. Boston: Beacon Press.
35.
Titmuss, Richard M.1976 (orig. 1965). The Role of Redistribution in Social Policy. In, Commitment to Welfare, Richard M. Titmuss (ed.). pp. 188-199. England: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.
36.
United States Department of Justice (Bureau of Justice Statistics)
. 1991. Sourcebook of Criminal Statistics, 1990. Washington, DC: G.P.O.
37.
United States Department of Justice
. 1992. Crime in the United States, 1991. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice.
38.
United States Department of Commerce
. 1991. Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington, DC: G.P.O.
39.
United States Department of Justice
, Federal Bureau of Investigation. 1992. Crime in the United States, 1991. Washington, DC: G.P.O.
40.
United States Department of the Treasury
, Internal Revenue Service. 1988. Income Tax Compliance Research. Supporting Appendices to Publication 7285. Washington, DC: G.P.O.
41.
Weisbrod, Burton A.1988. The Nonprofit Economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
42.
Welles, Chris
. 1989. America's Gambling Fever. Business Week (4/24/89): 112-120.
43.
Wilensky, Harold L.
and Charles N. LeBeaux. 1958. Industrial Society and Social Welfare. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
