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Cross-National Comparison of Income and Wealth Status in Retirement: First Results From the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS)

Author

Listed:
  • Eva Sierminska
  • Andrea Brandolini

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Timothy M. Smeeding

    (Center for Policy Research, Syracuse University)

Abstract

This paper provides a first glance at the role of income and wealth in comparing economic security of older persons in the United States in cross-national perspective. We compare our elders to those in six other rich OECD countries (Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). These countries have diverse social policy systems, with respect to both social insurance and public assistance; and they have very different patterns of private wealth holding. The paper is based on a new source of wealth micro data, known as the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS). In this paper, we first develop a comparable definition of wealth and net worth across nations and then focus our efforts on the inter-country variation in the composition of income and asset packages for those 65 and over, with respect to the main sources in each package. We examine the structure of income and wealth holdings and their joint distribution; income and asset poverty of the elderly; the importance of home ownership in providing security for the elderly; differences in wealth by education; and we provide an initial glimpse at wealth and income inequality in a comparative perspective. We conclude by comparing the risks associated with private assets to those associated with under-funded public pension systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Sierminska & Andrea Brandolini & Timothy M. Smeeding, 2007. "Cross-National Comparison of Income and Wealth Status in Retirement: First Results From the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS)," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2007-03, Center for Retirement Research, revised Feb 2007.
    • Handle: RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2007-03
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bruce Bradbury, 2008. "Housing wealth as retirement saving: Does the Australian Model Lead to Over-Consumption of Housing?," LWS Working papers 7, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Greet De Vil & Gijs Dekkers & Raphael Desmet, 2010. "Working Paper 10-10 - The long-term adequacy of the Belgian public pension system: An analysis based on the MIDAS model," Working Papers 1010, Federal Planning Bureau, Belgium.
    3. Dekkers, Gijs, 2008. "Are the old poor? A discussion and some cursory evidence," MPRA Paper 29436, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Isabel Z. Martínez, 2021. "Evidence from Unique Swiss Tax Data on the Composition and Joint Distribution of Income and Wealth," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Figari, Francesco & Matsaganis, Manos & Sutherland, Holly, 2011. "The financial well-being of older people in Europe and the redistributive effects of minimum pension schemes," EUROMOD Working Papers EM7/11, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

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    Keywords

    wealth; cross-national; private holdings; Luxembourg Wealth Study; home ownership; asset poverty; elderly; education; differences in wealth; public pension systems;
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