Between 1972 and 2001, the wage and salary income of Americans at the 90th percentile of the income distribution rose only 34 percent, or about 1 percent per year. So being in the top 10 percent of the income distribution, like being a college graduate, wasn't a ticket to big income gains.

But income at the 99th percentile rose 87 percent; income at the 99.9th percentile rose 181 percent; and income at the 99.99th percentile rose 497 percent.

—Dew-Becker and Robert Gordon of Northwestern University, "Where Did the Productivity Growth Go?" as quoted by Paul Krugman in "The 80-20 Fallacy"

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