The Distribution of Wealth: Measurement and Models

Stephen Jenkins

Journal of Economic Surveys, 1990, vol. 4, issue 4, 329-60

Abstract: Analysts debating the consequences of a policy change for the wealth distribution may come to different conclusions because of different views about how the distribution should be defined and measured, or about the processes determining the distribution. The aim of this survey is to provide an analytical framework within which such conflicts may be addressed. The first part of the paper discusses conceptual issues in the definition of "wealth," and compares methods of deriving estimates of wealth distribution. The second, and larger, part of the paper surveys lifecycle and intergenerational models of the distribution of wealth, including a discussion of the role played by inheritance. The presentation is largely theoretical. Indeed, one of the paper's conclusions is that empirical modeling or the wealth distribution is under-developed, at least for the purposes of addressing many topical policy issues. Copyright 1990 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd

Date: 1990
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