The table traces the over-all changes in national well-being. However, certain qualifications, often overlooked in analyzing national income data, must be made. The table tells nothing about the actual distribution of income; it gives only a total figure on the amount of income produced and distributed. How it was made, and to whom dispensed, cannot be told from these figures. They reveal in only approximate fashion the income available for tax purposes. They do not actually show anything about the wealth and poverty of the various classes of the population, nor do they indicate a rise in living standards among the various elements in the population to correspond with an increase in national income. Much more detailed studies of income distribution are required for such purposes. Nevertheless, the figures are revealing.

The peak current dollar national income available to meet the living necessities, luxuries, and cultural desires of the people totaled $79,498,000,000 in 1929. That year showed the highest income in terms of price level dollars as well. The Nation's income, which grew rapidly during the prosperous era of the 1920's, dropped in 1933 to the lowest level, in terms of current dollars, reached in any year since 1916. The income was lower in terms of purchasing power than in any year since the depression year 1922. A comparison of the percentage of gain or loss in the 8 years preceding and following the 1929 peak follows:

The national income in terms of current dollars declined almost 18 percent from 1929 to 1936; but in terms of purchasing power the decline was less than 5 percent. Those who possessed income available for expenditure in like or nearly like amounts as in 1929 were actually benefited by the changes in price levels. For a very substantial number of citizens, however, losses in money income kept them from maintaining their living standards, despite a favorable price level.

The production of income is based upon various factors, controllable and uncontrollable, and income figures reflect the sensitivity of the economy to them. The downward swing of the depression was arrested in 1934, and a rapid recovery began which by 1937 raised the national income almost $25,000,000,000 above the low point of 1933 and within $10,000,000,000 of the all-time high of 1929. At that time, certain changes in public policy and private enterprise caused a drop in national income recorded for 1938. The 1938 loss in income reduced the total somewhat below 1936, but it still remained above 1934 and 1935.

The trend of the national income can be seen for the years since 1922 in the index columns. In 1938, for example, the current dollar income was 21.4 percent below that of 1929; while in commodity dollars it was 8.7 percent below 1929. Conditions in 1937 were even better when compared with 1929, for current income was 12.7 percent less, and adjusted dollar income was 2.9 percent lower.

The conclusion that the people were only 2.9 percent poorer in 1937 than in 1929 is unwarranted, however, for the distribution of the total income is not represented in the figures, nor have any population data been related to national income figures.

In the last half of the table the data are arranged on a per capita basis. Here it appears that in 1937 the current dollar per capita income was 17.9 percent less than 1929; and on a price index basis it had fallen off 8.8 percent. Even these figures do not distribute the incomes among the population, however, and consequently cannot be taken as expenditure incomes.

In 1929 there was realized a current dollar per capita income of $654, and an adjusted per capita income of $625. Thus for every family of man, wife, and two children in 1929, the economy had reached a current income level of $2,616. By 1934 the national income of this hypothetical family of four persons had dropped to $1,628. The recovery of 1937 produced a family income of $2,148, reduced by the recession of 1938 to $1,920. Obviously, no such distribution of income or income-receiving units of population exists, but the figures do indicate something of the extent to which the national income can meet the living needs of the people, both in prosperity and depression.

INCOME OF THE STATES

In table 14, chart 11, the realized income of the Nation is distributed among the States which produce it. The table ranks the 48 States according to total income and percentage of total income, for the peak year 1929, and 1938, the last year for which figures are available. The increase or decrease for the period is also shown.

Like the Nation's wealth, the income produced and paid out is located in the States of large population, highly developed industries, and strong financial centers. The relative positions of the States did not alter greatly from 1929 to 1938; the top five States were the same in both years. Five States-Kansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Idaho-changed in rank as much as five places; North Carolina and Idaho moved up, and the other three down. The wide disparity in State incomes is shown below:

Nor did all States fare alike in the years following 1929. North and South Carolina, Louisiana, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia realized more income in 1938 than in 1929. However, in each of these cases the gains were the result of relief and Government spending. This is shown by a comparison of total income (table 14), with private production income (table 15). In each instance a loss in private production incomes was registered for these States from 1929 to 1938. Despite Government spending some States sustained substantial losses in total income from 1929 to 1938. Twelve States, distributed throughout the Union, lost 25 percent or more of their income by 1938. North Dakota suffered most, with a loss of 43 percent in its total

CHART 11

REALIZED NATIONAL INCOME IN THE UNITED STATES

PERCENTAGES BY STATES505)

SOURCE: ENTERPRISE AND SOCIAL PROGRESS, National Industrial Conference Board, New York, 1939, p. 116-17

realized income and 54.8 percent of realized private production income. As with most States, even these figures represent a considerable recovery from the trough of depression in 1933. In the case of North Dakota, for example, total income in 1933 was 58.2 percent less than in 1929, while total income from private production had fallen off 66.5 percent in 1934 (1933 figures not available).

TABLE 14.-Realized national income by States, 1929 and 1938

Source: National Industrial Conference Board, Enterprise and Social Progress, 1939, pp. 116-117.

Table 15, chart 12, shows income from private production. The same general ranking of States is seen as in the previous table, with a few exceptions. The national loss in private production income from 1929 to 1938 was 30.9 percent. In 22 States the losses were greater than this figure. Although 1929 was not the peak year in privately produced income for all States, nevertheless no single State by 1938 had regained that comparatively high level.