Nowcasting Distributional National Accounts for the United States: A Machine Learning Approach

Income inequality estimates typically rely on microdata, but this paper presents a faster alternative using nowcasting, which estimates income distribution based on macroeconomic data from the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs). By leveraging components like labor earnings and government benefits, the authors create timely estimates of the Gini coefficient and income shares, providing critical information nearly a year earlier than traditional methods.