abstract: 'Earlier studies have identified a pattern of cumulative advantage

  leading to increased within-cohort economic inequality over the life

  course, but there is a need to better understand how levels of

  inequality by age have changed in the evolving economic environment of

  recent decades. We utilized Survey of Income and Program Participation

  (SIPP) data to compare economic inequality across age groups for 2010

  versus 1983-1984.

  We examined changing age profiles of inequality using a summary measure

  of economic resources taking into account income, annuitized value of

  wealth, and household size. We adjusted for survey underreporting of

  some income and asset types, based on National Income Accounts and other

  independent estimates of national aggregates. We examined inequality by

  age with Gini coefficients.

  Late-life (65+) inequality increased between the 2 periods, with Gini

  coefficients remaining higher than during the working years, but with a

  less steep age difference in inequality in 2010 than in 1983-1984.

  Inequality increased sharply within each cohort, particularly steeply in

  Depression-era, war-baby, and leading-edge baby boom cohorts. The top

  quintile of elderly received increasing shares of most income sources.

  Increasing inequality among older people, and especially in cohorts

  approaching late life, presages upcoming financial challenges for

  elderly persons in the lower part of the income distribution.

  Implications of this increasingly high-inequality late-life environment

  need to be carefully evaluated as changes are considered in Social

  Security and other safety-net institutions, which moderate impacts of

  economic forces that drive increasingly disparate late-life economic

  outcomes.'
affiliation: 'Crystal, S (Corresponding Author), Rutgers State Univ, Inst Hlth, Ctr
  Hlth Serv Res, 112 Paterson St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USA.

  Crystal, Stephen, Rutgers State Univ, Inst Hlth, Ctr Hlth Serv Res, 112 Paterson
  St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USA.

  Shea, Dennis G.; Reyes, Adriana M., Penn State Univ, Coll Hlth \& Human Dev, University
  Pk, PA 16802 USA.'
author: Crystal, Stephen and Shea, Dennis G. and Reyes, Adriana M.
author-email: scrystal@rci.rutgers.edu
author_list:
- family: Crystal
  given: Stephen
- family: Shea
  given: Dennis G.
- family: Reyes
  given: Adriana M.
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1093/geront/gnw056
eissn: 1758-5341
files: []
issn: 0016-9013
journal: GERONTOLOGIST
keywords: Income; Wealth; Inequality; Social Security
keywords-plus: UNITED-STATES; HEALTH; INCOME; EDUCATION; AGE; PERSPECTIVE; EMPLOYMENT
language: English
month: OCT
number: '5'
number-of-cited-references: '56'
orcid-numbers: Reyes, Adriana/0000-0002-4133-6825
pages: 910-920
papis_id: 172e2f29ebffe22aa0155adb00eea028
ref: Crystal2017cumulativeadvantage
times-cited: '94'
title: Cumulative Advantage, Cumulative Disadvantage, and Evolving Patterns of Late-Life
  Inequality
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000412236100015
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '20'
volume: '57'
web-of-science-categories: Gerontology
year: '2017'