Intergenerational wealth mobility and the role of inheritance: Evidence from multiple generations

Adrian Adermon, Mikael Lindahl and Daniel Waldenström

No 670, Working Papers in Economics from University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

Abstract: This study estimates intergenerational correlations in mid-life wealth across three generations, and a young fourth generation, and examines how much of the parent-child association that can be explained by inheritances. Using a Swedish data set we find parent-child rank correlations of 0.3–0.4 and grandparents- grandchild rank correlations of 0.1–0.2. Conditional on parents’ wealth, grandparents’ wealth is weakly positively associated with grandchild’s wealth and the parent-child correlation is basically unchanged if we control for grandparents’ wealth. Bequests and gifts strikingly account for at least 50 per cent of the parent-child wealth correlation while earnings and education are only able to explain 25 per cent.

Keywords: multigenerational mobility; bequests; mid-life wealth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2016-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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http://hdl.handle.net/2077/46464 (text/html)

Related works:
Journal Article: Intergenerational Wealth Mobility and the Role of Inheritance: Evidence from Multiple Generations (2018)
Working Paper: Intergenerational wealth mobility and the role of inheritance: Evidence from multiple generations (2018)
Working Paper: Intergenerational wealth mobility and the role of inheritance: Evidence from multiple generations (2016)
Working Paper: Intergenerational Wealth Mobility and the Role of Inheritance: Evidence from Multiple Generations (2016)
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