Long-Term Trends in the Distribution of Wealth and Inheritance

James B. Davies, Rodrigo Lluberas, Daniel Waldenström and James Davies
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: James Byron Davies

No 11183, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper examines long-term trends in aggregate wealth and inheritance and in their distributions, focusing on developed economies. A key stylized fact is that wealth is less equally distributed than income. Financial assets predominate among the wealthy, while owner-occupied housing is crucial for middle groups, so higher stock prices raise wealth inequality while house price increases do the opposite. Inheritances exacerbate absolute wealth inequality but reduce rel-ative inequality. Wealth inequality declined in advanced Western countries during the first half of the 20th century, then stabilized or rose. Aggregate wealth-to-income ratios have fluctuated, re-flecting both market and policy influences, whereas inherited wealth proportions have declined over the long run. Continued increases in the value of employer-based pensions, housing and social security wealth in recent decades have acted to reduce wealth inequality, offsetting the disequalizing impact of financial asset price increases to a varying extent across countries.

Keywords: wealth; inheritance; inequality; saving; history (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D15 D31 E01 E21 G51 H55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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Working Paper: Long-Term Trends in the Distribution of Wealth and Inheritance (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11183

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