The various issues involved in measuring income inequality in the U.S. are analyzed in this book. In describing the level of inequality inherent in a particular graduation it is important which income recipient and which data set is used and also the measure of income inequality used as the appropriate summary statistic.Recent trends in labor markets are examined and the book attempts to trace the impact of these trends on the distribution of income for various age, race and occupational cohorts, and across states. Some new methods for analyzing inequality in a multidimensional framework are also discussed. This book provides one of the most comprehensive treatments of income inequality available to date.

Introduction. Trends in the Labor Market. On the Generation, Measurement and Description of the Size Distribution of Income. Hypotheses on How Observed Distributions are Generated. Measuring Inequality. Axiom-Based Inequality Measurement and Theil's Entropy Measures. Approximating the Observed Income Distribution: Parametric Forms. The Lorenz Curve: A Nonparametric Description of the Observed Distribution. Identifying Distributional Forms Utilizing the &kgr; - Criterion. Introduction. The Test. Approximating Income Distributions: The Beta Distribution of the Second Kind. Introduction. The Model. The Beta Distribution of the Second Kind and Income Inequality Across States for Various Population Subgroups. Empirical Results. Policy Implications. Another Example: The Size Distribution of Labor and Nonlabor Income. Summary and Conclusions. Inequality across Demographic Groups. Measuring Income Inequality. Empirical Results for Various Demographic Groups. The Distribution of Earnings across Occupations. Introduction. A Description of the Data. The Empirical Results. Summary and Concluding Remarks. A Review and Summary of our Findings. Future Research Applications.