The impact of intergenerational transfers on wealth inequality in Japan and the United States

Yoko Niimi and Charles Horioka ()

The World Economy, 2018, vol. 41, issue 8, 2042-2066

Abstract: Our paper sheds light on the implications of intergenerational transfers for wealth inequality by examining whether or not individuals who receive intergenerational transfers from their parents are more likely to leave bequests to their children than those who do not using microdata for Japan and the United States. The estimation results show that the receipt of intergenerational transfers from parents and/or parents‐in‐law increases the likelihood of individuals leaving bequests to their children in both Japan and the United States, which in turn is likely to contribute to the persistence or widening of wealth disparities. However, such a tendency is found to be stronger among less better‐off households in both countries, and this may help alleviate the disequalising effect of intergenerational transfers on the distribution of wealth, at least to some extent.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12544

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:worlde:v:41:y:2018:i:8:p:2042-2066

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0378-5920

Access Statistics for this article

The World Economy is currently edited by David Greenaway

More articles in The World Economy from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().