The Rational Reminder Podcast · Thursday, September 24, 2026
Owen Zidar highlights a significant shift in income sources over the past century, with entrepreneurial income from private businesses increasing substantially. In 1960, only 17% of top 0.1% income came from entrepreneurship, compared to 43% in 2022, while wage income decreased as a share.
“If you look at top 0.1% of income, I'll give you a few numbers. So in 1960, 17% of that income came from entrepreneurial income from business owners. And almost twice that came from wages. Where if you go to 2022, 43% came from private business and only 35% came from wages.”
“And so you've seen this big rise in the share of income especially at the top from private business.”