The Role of Bequests in Shaping Wealth Inequality: Evidence from Danish Wealth Records

Simon Boserup (), Wojciech Kopczuk and Claus Kreiner

American Economic Review, 2016, vol. 106, issue 5, 656-61

Abstract: Using Danish administrative data, we estimate the impact of bequests on the level and inequality of wealth. We compare the distributions of wealth over time of people whose parent died and those whose parent did not. Bequests account for 26 percent of the average post-bequest wealth 1-3 years after parental death and significantly affect wealth throughout the distribution. Bequests increase absolute wealth inequality (variance of the distribution censored at the top/bottom 1% increases by 33 percent), but reduce relative inequality (the top 1% share declines by 6 percentage points from the base of 31 percent).

JEL-codes: D31 D64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20161036
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Working Paper: The Role of Bequests in Shaping Wealth Inequality: Evidence from Danish Wealth Records (2016)
Working Paper: The Role of Bequests in Shaping Wealth Inequality: Evidence from Danish Wealth Records (2016)
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