This story reports on a recent Russell Sage-funded study highlighting the growth of economic inequality in the U.S. The investigators, Fabian Pfeffer, Sheldon Danziger, and Robert Schoeni, found that net worth declined 36% 2003-2013 for households at the median level, but rose 14% during the same period for households in the top 5%. Although household wealth at the median level appeared to be rising until 2007, much of that gain came from rising home values. Pfeffer, lead author of the study report, says: “The housing bubble basically hid a trend of declining financial wealth at the median that began in 2001.”

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