Auerbach et al. (1995), document the dramatic postwar increase in the annuitization of the resources of America's elderly. Gokhale et al. (1996) suggest that greater annuitization may explain the significant postwar rise in the consumption propensity of the elderly out of remaining lifetime resources. Gokhale et al. (2000) consider the related point that increased annuitization will reduce bequests, especially for lower and middle-income households, whose entire earnings are taxed under Social Security. By differentially disenfranchising the children of the poor from receipt of inheritances, Social Security may materially alter the distribution of wealth. This paper uses data from the PSID to further analyze how Social Security and other factors affect wealth inequality. The Gini coefficient of the simulated equilibrium wealth distribution is 21 percent larger and the share of wealth held by the wealthiest 1 percent of households is 79 percent higher in the presence of Social Security.
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Paper provided by London School of Economics - Centre for Labour Economics in its series Papers with number
9913.
Length: 35 pages Date of creation: 1999 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:fth:lseple:9913
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution D91 - Microeconomics - - Intertemporal Choice and Growth - - - Intertemporal Consumer Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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[Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Bernheim, B Douglas & Shleifer, Andrei & Summers, Lawrence H, 1986.
"The Strategic Bequest Motive,"
Journal of Labor Economics,
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[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994.
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Steven Caldwell & Melissa Favreault & Alla Gantman & Jagadeesh Gokhale & Thomas Johnson & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1999.
"Social Security's Treatment of Postwar Americans,"
NBER Chapters,
in: Tax Policy and the Economy, volume 13, pages 109-148
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