[nickff]

You are correct about the chart, but if you look at the second and third blog-posts, you will see how family structure has changed, and how it will have a similar impact on measured household wealth. I wish that I had a similar wealth distributions graph handy, but this was the best source I could remember, and I think it serves to adequately demonstrate the point.

[jacobolus]

It’s a fair critique, but it really doesn’t come close to explaining the 2003–2013 data.

The ratio of 95th percentile household net worth to median household net worth doubled from ~9x to ~18x. That’s not just some artifact of changing family structures. That’s a massive increase in wealth inequality.

Basically, your point is interesting, but in context it’s mostly a distraction. (But I agree that a chart showing individual rather than household wealth would be nice to see.)

[nickff]

I think you are right that those blogs do not fully explain what happened after 2003. It seems like the measured wealth dip (amongst all groups) from 2007-current is quite consistent with losses due to the drop in housing prices from the great recession (though I have no solid data to back this up). Lower income households tend to have a greater proportion of their wealth tied up in housing (and with less home equity due to a variety of factors including low down payments in those years), so they were likely disproportionately (negatively) impacted.

I am not sure what could explain the changes between 2003-2007, though I would be very interested to hear any ideas.