this is really just making up numbers and calling it "wealth distribution".
We can go deeper. Almost everything you hear about the "economy" is based on a mathematical model that makes a variety of assumptions. What is income? What is wealth? Who are the people participating? How does information get transmitted? What is a "good" outcome and what is a "bad" outcome?
Further, "waiters undereporting tips" is a tiny problem next to "wealth is somewhat unmeasurable since we don't survey it or tax it".
The best we can do is measure what we can and try to make reasonable inferences. But it's not an exercise in making up numbers. It's an exercise in interpreting what the numbers we have are saying.
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Welcome to problems with social science!
We can go deeper. Almost everything you hear about the "economy" is based on a mathematical model that makes a variety of assumptions. What is income? What is wealth? Who are the people participating? How does information get transmitted? What is a "good" outcome and what is a "bad" outcome?
Further, "waiters undereporting tips" is a tiny problem next to "wealth is somewhat unmeasurable since we don't survey it or tax it".
The best we can do is measure what we can and try to make reasonable inferences. But it's not an exercise in making up numbers. It's an exercise in interpreting what the numbers we have are saying.