The American Dream isn't what you think it is | Fortune

An article in Fortune revisits research on who is truly wealthy in the US and how they got that way, tracing work that began in 2014 by Eric Zwick, Owen Zidar and Danny Yagan. Using tax records obtained through the US Treasury Department—described as “tax ninjas”—they overcame a longstanding data problem: linking business profits to the specific individuals who own them. Their findings challenged the idea that the ultra-rich are the typical “American Dream” beneficiaries. In Zwick and Zidar’s book, The Everywhere Millionaire, the authors focus on owners of closely held operating businesses, with at least $5 million in net worth, concentrated in mid-sized metros rather than places like Manhattan or Palo Alto.