Top 1% surge is uniquely American

The rise in the top 1% income share is a uniquely American phenomenon among rich countries—not seen in Continental Europe or Canada, and only weakly in the UK—with the U.S. top 1% share rising from about 10% of pre-tax income in 1980 to roughly 20% today, while the bottom 50% share fell from 20% to about 12%, a divergence with no parallel in any other developed country since 1980.