Hang Young Lee

The One Percent Top Incomes and Wealth in Sociological Research

The one percent, those at the top of the income and wealth distributions, are fundamental to understanding social and economic inequality and mobility, but sociologists rarely focus research attention on this group. This article presents updated evidence showing that both income and wealth are very highly concentrated in the United States but that the concentration of wealth, particularly financial wealth, is extremely high. We focus on the one percent of wealth owners and identify patterns in asset ownership, liabilities, and demographic traits that are relevant to sociological research. Findings show, for example, that those in the one percent have unique asset and debt portfolios that, to some extent, insulated them from the ill effects of the recent recession; however, patterns reported also highlight inheritance and suggest that mobility into the one percent is possible. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.

The rise and fall of government spending in affluent democracies, 1971–2008

One of the enduring conclusions of political economy is that the government’s share of the economy tends to grow over time and with a rising gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Yet, from the late 1980s through to 2008, government spending as a percentage of GDP declined in the typical year in affluent democracies. Synthesizing and building on literatures on the welfare state, state size and neoliberalism, we evaluate three explanations for the expansion and retrenchment of government spending as a percentage of GDP. We estimate fixed effects models of three measures of changes and cuts in government spending. In the full sample 1971–2008, changes and cuts were driven by the structural pressures of unemployment and trade openness, and the institutional factor of the adoption of the Euro. However, this conceals important historical variation. In the earlier period of expansion, the power resource of unionization was the most robust influence. In the later period of retrenchment, changes and cuts were shaped by the adoption of the Euro and a set of structural pressures. In contrast to previous research, changes and cuts in government spending are not associated with a country’s GDP per capita after the mid-1980s. We conclude by discussing implications for the welfare state and neoliberalism, and by encouraging caution for universal theories of state size.

Real Estate Holdings Among the Super-Rich in the USA

Real estate is an important, but understudied, component of the portfolios of the super-rich. We explore the real estate ownership distribution and household traits associated with large real estate holdings in the USA. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, we examine the factors that lead to top positions in the ownership of real estate. We find that top real estate owning households and other wealthy households do not uniformly overlap. Additionally, top wealth-owning households are more likely to have previously inherited assets, have higher educational attainment, and be self-employed. However, among households who own large amounts of real estate, real estate investment is associated with lower educational attainment and is not significantly associated with inheritance, occupational status, or family characteristics.