Income Distribution, Profit and Inequality: Their Role in U.S. Economic History, 1910-2010

This paper analyses US business cycles from 1910 to 2010 based on changes in income distribution and in social inequalities and their influence on the rate of profit. The research uses figures from US national accounts. The key objective is to analyse changes in income distribution by looking at the rate of profit. The paper provides additional weight to the conclusions reached by Piketty, but using different sources: a reduction in the share of wages in national income and an increase in social inequality. This can be explained because the downward trend in capital productivity cannot be corrected, so labour productivity is bolstered to maintain the rate of profit.