Aging and the Timing of Intergenerational Transfers

This paper shows that demographic aging reshapes intergenerational wealth transmission not only by a!ecting the size of transfers, but—crucially—by delaying the timing at which they are received, with important implications for wealth inequality and intergenerational mobility. While existing research has emphasized the role of inheritances in wealth accumulation, we argue that delayed inheritance receipt has become a central and unequal channel through which economic advantage and disadvantage persist across generations. Using microdata from the Spanish Survey of Household Finances (2002–2022), we show that the average age at first inheritance has increased by almost twenty years over recent decades. We quantify the economic cost of delayed inheritances, finding that each additional year of delay is associated with approximately over a 2% reduction in long-run net wealth. A simple model and stratified estimates by education reveal that this timing penalty is concentrated among households with low and medium education, consistent with the presence of binding credit constraints. We further show that earlier inheritances shape key life-cycle decisions, increasing the likelihood of homeownership, entrepreneurship, and investment in other real estate. Finally, we examine early inter vivos transfers, which could in principle provide early access to inherited resources but are disproportionately received by wealthier households and generate economically meaningful benefits primarily for the highly educated. Overall, our findings indicate that demographic aging amplifies wealth inequality by weakening the equalizing role of intergenerational transfers and concentrating their economic benefits among already advantaged groups.