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Wealth inequality and intergenerational links

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  • Mariacristina De Nardi

Abstract

Previous work has had difficulty generating household saving behavior that makes the distribution of wealth much more concentrated than that of labor earnings, and that makes the richest households hold onto large amounts of wealth, even during very old age. I construct a quantitative, general equilibrium, overlapping-generations model in which parents and children are linked by accidental and voluntary bequests and by earnings ability. I show that voluntary bequests can explain the emergence of large estates, while accidental bequests alone cannot, and that adding earnings persistence within families increases wealth concentration even more. I also show that the introduction of a bequest motive generates lifetime savings profiles more consistent with the data.

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  • Mariacristina De Nardi, . "Wealth inequality and intergenerational links," Staff Report, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedmsr:314
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    Cited by:

    1. Antoine Bommier, Francois Le Grand, "undated". "Too Risk Averse to Purchase Insurance? A Theoretical Glance at the Annuity Puzzle," Working Papers ETH-RC-12-002, ETH Zurich, Chair of Systems Design.
    2. James MacGee & Jie Zhou, 2010. "Private Pensions, Retirement Wealth and Lifetime Earnings," University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers 20102, University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute.
    3. Fang Yang, 2005. "Consumption Along the Life Cycle: How Different is Housing?," 2005 Meeting Papers 718, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. repec:cep:sticas:/146 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Lance Lochner & Alexander Monge-Naranjo, 2012. "Credit Constraints in Education," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 225-256, July.
    6. Fang Yang, 2005. "Accounting for the heterogeneity in retirement wealth," Working Papers 638, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    7. Altonji Joseph G & Villanueva Ernesto, 2007. "The Marginal Propensity to Spend on Adult Children," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-52, February.
    8. David A. Love, 2010. "The Effects of Marital Status and Children on Savings and Portfolio Choice," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 385-432, January.
    9. Rajnish Mehra & Facundo Piguillem & Edward C. Prescott, 2011. "Costly financial intermediation in neoclassical growth theory," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 2(1), pages 1-36, March.
    10. Fang Yang, 2009. "Consumption over the Life Cycle: How Different is Housing?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(3), pages 423-443, July.
    11. Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2008. "Occupational Choice and the Spirit of Capitalism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 747-793.
    12. Joachim Inkmann & Paula Lopes & Alexander Michaelides, 2011. "How Deep Is the Annuity Market Participation Puzzle?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(1), pages 279-319.
    13. Huggett, Mark & Ventura, Gustavo & Yaron, Amir, 2006. "Human capital and earnings distribution dynamics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 265-290, March.
    14. Irina Telyukova & Makoto Nakajima, 2010. "Home Equity Withdrawal in Retirement," 2010 Meeting Papers 636, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Hans Fehr & Fabian Kindermann, 2010. "Pension Funding and Individual Accounts in Economies with Life-cyclers and Myopes," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 56(3), pages 404-443, September.
    16. Hans Fehr & Christian Habermann, 2008. "Private Retirement Savings in Germany: The Structure of Tax Incentives and Annuitization," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 133, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    17. Meta Brown & Andrew F. Haughwout & Donghoon Lee & Wilbert Van der Klaauw, 2011. "Do we know what we owe? A comparison of borrower- and lender-reported consumer debt," Staff Reports 523, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    18. Díaz-Giménez, Javier & Pijoan-Mas, Josep, 2011. "Flat Tax Reforms: Investment Expensing and Progressivity," CEPR Discussion Papers 8238, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Juergen Jung & Chung Tran, 2016. "Market Inefficiency, Insurance Mandate and Welfare: U.S. Health Care Reform 2010," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 20, pages 132-159, April.
    20. Robert M. Townsend & Mr. Kenichi Ueda, 2003. "Financial Deepening, Inequality, and Growth: A Model-Based Quantitative Evaluation," IMF Working Papers 2003/193, International Monetary Fund.
    21. Luigi, Cannnari & Giovanni, D'Alessio, 2008. "Intergenerational Transfers in Italy," MPRA Paper 15111, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Hans Fehr & Fabian Kindermann, 2010. "Pension Funding and Individual Accounts in Economies with Life-cyclers and Myopes," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 56(3), pages 404-443, September.
    23. Cho, Sang-Wook (Stanley), 2010. "Household wealth accumulation and portfolio choices in Korea," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 13-25, March.
    24. Lee Lockwood, 2012. "Bequest Motives and the Annuity Puzzle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(2), pages 226-243, April.
    25. Hans Fehr & Christian Habermann, 2010. "Private retirement savings and mandatory annuitization," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 17(6), pages 640-661, December.

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    Keywords

    Inheritance and transfer tax; Wealth; Econometric models;
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