TRENDS IN INEQUALITY USING CONSUMPTION-EXPENDITURES - THE US FROM 1960 TO 1993

While much of the evidence suggests that there was an increase in ineq uality in the U.S. during the 1980s, the reasons are less evident. Usi ng the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey data, we find that the inequal ity of consumption-expenditures, as well as the inequality of other me asures of resources, widened considerably during the 1980s. While prev ious studies suggest that increasing inequality is mainly due to incre ases in within group inequality, we show that by decomposing inequalit y by the interaction of family type and education almost three-fourths of the increase in inequality is accounted for by changes in inequali ty between groups and by shifts in the population.