 La ricchezza delle famiglie italiane e americaneNo 501, Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area Abstract: The paper compares Italian and American households� wealth in 1998. The analysis is based on the Survey on Household Income and Wealth (Bank of Italy) and on the Survey of Consumer Finances (Federal Reserve Board). Tangible assets appear to be the main wealth component in both countries. In the United States households hold a higher share of financial assets and show a greater propensity to invest in more diversified and risky portfolios. American households also have a stronger tendency to resort to debt. In both countries the level and the composition of wealth seems to be correlated with similar households� characteristics. Wealth increases with the age of the head of household and his/her level of education; it is also higher for households headed by the self-employed. Furthermore, richer and more educated households exhibit a higher probability of holding a complex financial portfolio.The differences between the two countries do not seem to be significantly explained by demographics. Moreover, the US shows a greater wealth inequality apparently not balanced by a higher degree of wealth mobility. Keywords: ricchezza delle famiglie; distribuzione della ricchezza; Italia; Stati Uniti (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_501_04 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.