Wealth Inequality, Intergenerational Transfers and Socioeconomic Background

Intergenerational transfers and the prospects for increasing wealth inequality

Analyzing two cohorts from the Health and Retirement Survey from 1992 to 2002, we investigate the growth of wealth inequality and the determinants of intergenerational transfers. Although wealth inequality has grown substantially, patterns of intergenerational transfers that we are able to assess have changed only modestly. Based on these results, we conclude that concerns that the level of ine...

Appendix A Additional Results for Intergenerational Transfers and the Prospects for Increasing Wealth Inequality

How do intergenerational transfers affect housing and wealth?

This bulletin is based on research conducted by Professor Garry Barrett and Associate Professor Stephen Whelan at the AHURI Research Centre— University of Sydney, and Professor Gavin Wood and Dr Melek Cigdem at the AHURI Research Centre—RMIT University. The research explored the implications of income-based intergenerational transfers for housing outcomes and the distribution of wealth in Austr...

Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and Inequality in Premodern Societies Wealth Transmission and Inequality among Hunter-Gatherers

We report quantitative estimates of intergenerational transmission and population-wide inequality for wealth measures in a set of hunter-gatherer populations. Wealth is defined broadly as factors that contribute to individual or household well-being, ranging from embodied forms, such as weight and hunting success, to material forms, such as household goods, as well as relational wealth in excha...

Wealth inequality, family background, and estate taxation

This paper generates two main contributions. First, it provides a new theory of wealth inequality that merges two empirically relevant forces generating inequality: bequest motives and inheritance of ability across generations; and an earnings process that allows for more earnings risk for the richest. Second, it uses the resulting calibrated framework to study the effects of changing estate ta...