Evidence from the dead: new estimates of wealth inequality based on the distribution of estates

Facundo Alvaredo, Yonatan Berman and Salvatore Morelli

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper examines the estimation of the distribution of wealth using estates left at death. We establish formal conditions for implementing a simplified version of the classic estate multiplier method, relying solely on minimal information about estates and mortality. These conditions are empirically validated, and the simplified approach is applied to produce new long-run top wealth share series for Belgium, Japan, and South Africa, where estate data have previously been underutilized. This method holds potential for expanding the range of countries and years in which wealth concentration can be estimated, especially where estate data exist but the standard method with heterogeneous multipliers is inapplicable.

Keywords: mortality rates; public economics; wealth inequality; estate tax (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D30 H20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2025-02-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:127181

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