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Using U.S. Current Population Survey data from 1947 to 1985, Maxwell presents the results of a comprehensive study of the causes and consequences of the upturn in income inequality that took place during this period. By examining the impact of changing industrial and occupational employment, population age structure, household structure, female labor force participation, and government spending on social insurance, she systematically estimates and compares the influences on the inequality upturn.

The book's findings reveal that the predominant influence on increasing income inequality is the changing economy, which has resulted in increased income at the top of the distribution and reduced income at the bottom. More specifically, the book shows that economic and demographic factors influenced income inequality by (1) altering the composition of income-receiving units (in other words, the shift toward female-headed and unrelated individual units), (2) altering the income distribution within each income-receiving unit type or within each race, and (3) altering the relative income between income-receiving units and race.