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Household wealth in Central and Eastern Europe Explaining the wealth gap between Poland and Hungary

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  • Marcin Wroński

    (Collegium of World Economy, SGH Warsaw School of Economics)

Abstract

In this paper, we compare the distribution of household wealth in Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Slovakia. This comparison leads to a striking result. Despite similar levels of economic development, households in Poland are two times wealthier than their Hungarian counterparts. Therefore in the second part of the paper, we estimate the counterfactual wealth distribution that would exist if the household composition in Poland was the same as in Hungary in order to investigate if differences in the household structure explain this gap. According to our results, the different household composition explains only approx. 15% of the wealth gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcin Wroński, 2022. "Household wealth in Central and Eastern Europe Explaining the wealth gap between Poland and Hungary," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 53(5), pages 443-474.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbp:nbpbik:v:53:y:2022:i:4:p:443-474
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Central and Eastern Europe; household wealth; wealth inequality; counterfactual distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • P52 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Studies of Particular Economies

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