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Factors Driving Wealth Inequality in European Countries

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The Effect of Inheritance and Gifts on Household Net Wealth Distribution Analysed by Applying the Shapley Value Approach to Decomposition This paper analyses how microeconomic factors drive inequality in household wealth across nine European countries when applying the Shapley value approach to decomposition. The research draws on micro data from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey 2014. Disparity in inheritance and gifts obtained by households are found to have a considerable effect on wealth inequality that is on average stronger than that of income differences and other factors. In Austria, Germany, France, Portugal and Spain, the contribution of real and financial assets received as bequests or inter vivos transfers attains more than 30% to explained wealth inequality. The distribution of household characteristics (age, education, size, number of adults and children in the household, marital status) within countries however also shapes the observed wealth dispersion. The results resemble those obtained in a similar study (Leitner, 2016) based on data from the first wave of the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS 2010).

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  • Sebastian Leitner, 2018. "Factors Driving Wealth Inequality in European Countries," wiiw Working Papers 155, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    • Handle: RePEc:wii:wpaper:155
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    1. Guanghua Wan, 2002. "Regression-based Inequality Decomposition: Pitfalls and a Solution Procedure," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-101, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Wan, Guanghua, 2004. "Accounting for income inequality in rural China: a regression-based approach," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 348-363, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cesaroni, T. & D'Elia, E. & De Santis, R., 2019. "Inequality in EMU: is there a core periphery dualism?," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; wealth distribution; decomposition analysis; inheritance; inter vivos transfers; income distribution; Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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