IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/worlde/v41y2018i8p2042-2066.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Yoko Niimi
  • Charles Yuji Horioka

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Yoko Niimi & Charles Yuji Horioka, 2018. "The impact of intergenerational transfers on wealth inequality in Japan and the United States," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(8), pages 2042-2066, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:41:y:2018:i:8:p:2042-2066
    DOI: 10.1111/twec.12544
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12544
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/twec.12544?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Charles Yuji Horioka & Luigi Ventura, 2024. "Do the Retired Elderly in Europe Decumulate Their Wealth? The Importance of Bequest Motives, Precautionary Saving, Public Pensions, and Homeownership," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 70(1), pages 187-212, March.
    2. Mengyuan Zhou, 2022. "Does the Source of Inheritance Matter in Bequest Attitudes? Evidence from Japan," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 867-887, December.
    3. Luigi Ventura & Charles Yuji Horioka, 2020. "The wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly in Italy: the importance of bequest motives and precautionary saving," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 575-597, September.
    4. Mengyuan Zhou, 2019. "The Effect of the Source of Inheritance on Bequest Attitudes: Evidence from Japan," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2019-018, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    5. Charles Yuji Horioka, 2020. "Does the Selfish Life-Cycle Model Apply in the Case of Japan?," Discussion Paper Series DP2020-14, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    6. Charles Yuji Horioka, 2021. "Is the selfish life-cycle model more applicable in Japan and, if so, why? A literature survey," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 157-187, March.
    7. Yoko Mimura, 2021. "Associations Between Financial Transfer from Grandparents and Family Expenditures for Children’s Precollege Education in Japan," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 715-728, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:41:y:2018:i:8:p:2042-2066. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0378-5920 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.