THE DISTRIBUTION OF FULL INCOME VERSUS MONEY INCOME IN THE UNITED STATES

This paper compares the distribution of money income and full income across households in the United States. The concept of full income was introduced in Becker's household model and provides a framework for estimating the economic value of productive non-market activities and leisure. If the allocation of time is voluntary, full income may be a better measure of economic welfare than money income. Non-parametric Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients are used to compare the two distributions. The data are from the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation for 1984-86. Full income is more equally distributed than money income. However, the distribution remains very unequal. The income distributions are also compared for specific types of households