Government Transfers to Individuals and the Power of Upper Income Groups
William R. DiPietro

Abstract
This paper uses time series regression analysis on annual time series data for the U.S. from 1960 to 2002 to investigate whether there may or may not be a relationship between government transfers, the share of income going to the highest income group, and the extent of defense spending. The results of the paper suggest that either increases in defense spending relative to GDP, or increases in income concentration of the highest income groups, lead to reduced government transfers to individuals relative to GDP.

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