Where Does Wealth Come From? Measuring Lifetime Resources in Norway

Sandra E. Black, Paul Devereux, Fanny Landaud and Kjell G Salvanes

Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2023, vol. 37, issue 4, 115-36

Abstract: In this paper, we use comprehensive administrative data on the population of Norway to create a measure of lifetime resources, which generates several stylized facts. First, lifetime resources are highly correlated with net wealth, but net wealth is more unequally distributed. Second, labor income is the most important component of lifetime resources, except among the top 1 percent where capital income and capital gains on financial assets become important. Lastly, lifetime resources are a better predictor of child human capital outcomes than net wealth, suggesting that, in some cases, inequality in lifetime resources may be more relevant than inequality in wealth.

JEL-codes: D15 D31 G51 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Where Does Wealth Come From? Measuring Lifetime Resources in Norway (2023)
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DOI: 10.1257/jep.37.4.115

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