2026-09-17 05:00:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
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2026年9月17日 / 美国东部时间上午5:00 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
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经济学家欧文·齐达尔和埃里克·兹维克表示，你所在城镇最富有的人可能不是科技创业者或对冲基金经理。更有可能的是经营六家诊所的牙医，或是随处可见其卡车的暖通空调承包商。
正如这两位经济学家在他们的新书《无处不在的百万富翁》中所称的这些“隐形富豪”，通常是以传统方式致富——通过多年辛勤工作。研究显示，美国这类富豪数量众多，约有500万户家庭身家至少500万美元，总财富超过福布斯400富豪榜总财富的13倍。
这些基于经济学家深入研究美国财政部和国税局数据（将纳税记录与个体企业及其所有者匹配）的研究结果表明，在美国，积累巨额财富的典型路径并非领取固定薪水。相反，是通过普通企业，这些企业往往能享受同样的税收优惠和架构——即独资企业、合伙企业这类“穿透式”企业。
“这不仅仅是财富集中在沿海地区、硅谷和金融行业的故事，”芝加哥大学布斯商学院经济学教授兹维克在接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻采访时表示，“这是一种更广泛的现象，对许多美国人来说也更贴近日常生活。”
经济学家欧文·齐达尔和埃里克·兹维克研究了美国财政部和国税局的数据，以深入了解美国的百万富翁。他们发现，许多百万富翁拥有实体店铺企业，比如暖通空调维修店或连锁餐厅，而非在硅谷或华尔街赚钱。 亨利·霍尔特出版公司
诚然，股市繁荣也催生了越来越多的401(k)账户百万富翁，但兹维克和齐达尔的研究重点是那些积累的财富远超专注储蓄者所能攒下的数额的人群。他们发现，这些“无处不在的百万富翁”中有300万是私营企业所有者，平均身家约2500万美元。
“埃隆[马斯克]非常富有，但福布斯400富豪榜仅占美国家庭总财富的3%至5%，而这个群体规模要大得多，这对理解美国经济具有重要意义，”兹维克说。
隔壁的百万富翁？
这项新研究让人想起1990年代的畅销书《隔壁的百万富翁》，作者是托马斯·斯坦利和威廉·丹科。该书发现，许多百万富翁都是普通美国人，通过谨慎储蓄和投资积累财富。根据这本书的内容，这些百万富翁更有可能开二手车而非奢华名车，与其说住在公园大道，不如说更常住在主街。
兹维克和齐达尔研究中的百万富翁通常不像斯坦利和丹科研究的那些人那样低调。这两位经济学家发现，许多富裕的企业主并不羞于享受自己成功带来的成果。他们表示，游艇、大房子和其他奢侈品都很常见。
与此同时，他们的企业都是典型的实体店铺类型，而非硅谷和华尔街那种登上头条的财富。
“你走在街上，看到一辆送啤酒的卡车，如果你看车门，会看到啤酒经销商的名字，然后你去查一下，就会想，‘哦，这就是无处不在的百万富翁’，”兹维克说，“然后你会发现到处都是这样的人。”
美国的无处不在的百万富翁是谁
这项研究还分析了典型百万富翁的特征，例如他们是否继承了企业或财富，或是更有可能拥有大学学位。两人发现，约四分之三的百万富翁是白手起家创业，绝大多数人没有继承过财产。
“典型的无处不在的百万富翁现年62岁，已婚，”兹维克说，“他们更有可能拥有大学学位，但比普通民众的比例高不了多少。”
他补充道，他们的生意就是日常工作，即使已经五六十岁或更年长，也不一定会退休。“他们通常仍然对自己正在做的事情非常痴迷，”他说。
经济学家介绍的一位典型百万富翁是迪克·波蒂略，他在芝加哥的一个公共住房项目中长大，家境贫寒，1963年用1100美元启动资金开了一家热狗摊。波蒂略将这家店发展成了大型区域连锁餐厅，最终以10亿美元的价格将其卖给了伯克希尔合伙公司。
兹维克说，许多这类企业主主要是出于自己当老板的愿望，而非为了变得富有。
“创业时，自由、独立对他们中的许多人来说几乎比‘哦，这会让我变得极其富有’更重要，波蒂略也是如此，”兹维克说。
穿透式企业
许多这类百万富翁的一个共同特征是使用有限责任公司或独资企业这类穿透式企业，这能为所有者带来丰厚的税收优惠。美国税法允许这类企业的利润直接计入所有者的个人纳税申报表，避免了企业税和个人所得税的双重征税。
这类架构还允许穿透式企业从应纳税收入中扣除20%的部分，让所有者无需为部分收入缴纳所得税。这些优惠帮助所有者以大多数W-2薪资雇员无法企及的方式积累财富。
“如果你通过这类企业获得收入，即使你的劳动投入是经营这家企业，你缴纳的税款也会更低，”兹维克告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，“这让他们比原本更富有，也是过去40年他们财富增长的一个重要因素。”
人工智能会改变这条致富路径吗？
兹维克表示，他的研究结果表明，美国梦“比大多数人想象的更有生命力”。
他补充道：“相对于我们从数据中得出的结论，主流叙事非常悲观，但人们未必在关注这些数据。”
随着人工智能引发人们对未来工作的猜测，兹维克认为，美国继续存在大量创造财富的机会。
“这些人解决的问题是具体的、有形的——都是人们日常会遇到的问题，”他说，“技术会改变这些企业的形态，但这些具体的现实问题仍然会存在。暖通空调服务仍然是人们的刚需。”
他补充道：“人们有很大空间利用新技术来解决这些老问题。”
编辑：阿兰·谢特
America has more millionaires than you think. Here’s how most of them got rich
2026-09-17 05:00:00-0400 / CBS News
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September 17, 2026 / 5:00 AM EDT / CBS News
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The richest person in your town probably isn’t a technology entrepreneur or a hedge fund manager. More likely, it’s the dentist who runs six offices or the HVAC contractor whose trucks you see everywhere, according to economists Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick.
These “stealthy wealthy,” as the duo describes them in their new book, “The Everywhere Millionaire,” typically get rich the old-fashioned way — through hard work over many years. And there are plenty of them in the U.S., with roughly 5 million households worth at least $5 million and holding combined wealth exceeding 13 times that of the Forbes 400, their research shows.
The findings, based on the economists’ deep dive into Treasury and IRS data that matched tax records to individual businesses and their owners, show that the path to great wealth in the U.S. typically isn’t through a regular paycheck. Instead, it’s through ordinary enterprises that often benefit from the same tax breaks and structures — “pass-through” businesses such as sole proprietorships and partnerships.
“This is not just a story about wealth being on the coast, Silicon Valley and finance,” Zwick, an economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, told CBS News. “This is a much broader phenomenon, and also much closer to home for a lot of Americans.”
Economists Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick researched Treasury and IRS data to learn more about millionaires in America. They found that many own brick-and-mortar businesses like HVAC repair businesses or restaurant chains, rather than making their money in Silicon Valley or on Wall Street. Henry Holt and Co.
To be sure, the stock market boom has also minted a growing number of 401(k) millionaires, but Zwick and Zidar are focused on people who have amassed wealth far beyond what even dedicated savers have been able to sock away. These “everywhere millionaires” include 3 million owners of private businesses, with an average wealth of about $25 million, they found.
“Elon [Musk] is very rich, but the Forbes 400 is 3% to 5% of total household wealth in the U.S., and this group is just so much bigger, and that’s consequential for understanding the economy,” Zwick said.
The millionaire next door?
The new research is reminiscent of the 1990s bestseller “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas Stanley and William Danko, which found that many millionaires were average Americans who built their wealth through careful saving and investing. These millionaires were more likely to drive a used car than a flashy luxury car, and were less likely to live on Park Avenue than on Main Street, according to the book.
The millionaires who are the subject of Zwick’s and Zidar’s research aren’t generally as unassuming as those studied by Stanley and Danko, with the economists finding that many of these wealthy business owners aren’t shy about enjoying the fruits of their prosperity. Yachts, large houses and other extravagances are common, they found.
At the same time, their businesses are of the typical brick-and-mortar variety, rather than the headline-grabbing wealth associated with Silicon Valley and Wall Street.
“You’re walking down the street, you look at a truck that’s delivering beer, and if you look on the door, you see the name of the beer distributor, and then you go look them up, and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s an everywhere millionaire,’” Zwick said. “And you start to see them everywhere like that.”
Who are America’s everywhere millionaires
The research also examined the traits of the typical millionaire, tracking whether they inherited their businesses or wealth, for instance, or if they were more likely to have college degrees. The pair found that about three-quarters of these millionaires started their own businesses, while the vast majority didn’t inherit money.
“The typical everywhere millionaire is 62, married,” Zwick said. “They’re more likely to be a college graduate, but not that much more likely than the general population.”
Their business is also their day job, and they’re not necessarily retired even though they’re in their 50s, 60s or older, he added. “Often they’re still quite obsessed with what they’re doing,” he said.
One typical millionaire profiled by the economists is Dick Portillo, who grew up poor in a Chicago housing project and started a hot dog stand in 1963 with a $1,100 investment. Portillo grew the business into a large regional chain, eventually selling it to Berkshire Partners for $1 billion.
Many of these business owners are driven chiefly by a desire to be their own bosses rather than to become rich, Zwick said.
“Freedom, independence, is almost more important to a lot of them when they’re starting — Portillo similarly — than ‘Oh, this is going to make me hugely rich,’” Zwick said.
Pass-through businesses
One common characteristic of many such millionaires is their use of pass-through businesses, such as LLCs or sole proprietorships, that provide a lucrative tax benefit to their owners. The tax code allows profits from these businesses to flow to the owner’s personal tax return, avoiding the double taxation of corporate taxes.
Such arrangements also allow pass-through businesses to deduct 20% of that income from their taxes, allowing owners to avoid paying income taxes on a portion of their earnings. Those benefits help owners accumulate wealth in ways most W-2 employees can’t emulate.
“You pay lower tax if you’re getting your income through one of these businesses, even if your labor is going into running the business,” Zwick told CBS News. “It has made them richer than they otherwise would have been, and it’s an important part of the story of their growth over the last 40 years.”
Will AI change this path to wealth?
Zwick said he believes his findings show that the American Dream “is more alive than most people think.”
He added, “The prevailing narrative is very pessimistic relative to our reading of the data, but it’s not necessarily where people are looking.”
With artificial intelligence prompting speculation about the future of work, Zwick thinks opportunities to build wealth will continue to abound in the U.S.
“The problems that these people are solving are tactile, they’re tangible — they’re problems that people experience every day,” he said. “Technology will change what these businesses look like, but these tactile, real-world problems are still going to be there. HVAC is still going to be a need.”
He added, “There’s a lot of room for people to take new technology but solve these old problems.”
Edited by Alain Sherter