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The Household Wealth Distribution in Spain: The Role of Housing and Financial Wealth

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  • Francisco Azpitarte

    (Universidade de Vigo)

Abstract

We analyse the distribution of household wealth in Spain using the first wave of the Spanish Survey of Household Finances, conducted by the Bank of Spain in 2002. We study the distribution of the different wealth components and, using inequality decomposition techniques, we assess the contribution of each element to overall wealth inequality. We find that wealth is more unequally distributed than income, while housing wealth is much more evenly distributed than financial wealth. Moreover, we identify two groups of wealth components: one disequalizing group, which includes financial wealth, whose value and portfolio share increase with household wealth; and a second more equalizing one, including housing wealth, whose value increases with wealth, but their share in the portfolio does not. Finally, we show that differences between age groups do not explain why wealth is much more unequally distributed than income. Instead, business and home ownership are factors that clearly contribute to explain this feature.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisco Azpitarte, 2008. "The Household Wealth Distribution in Spain: The Role of Housing and Financial Wealth," Working Papers 83, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    • Handle: RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2008-83
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Petar Peshev & Statty Stattev & Kristina Stefanova & Meglena Lazarova, 2019. "Financial Wealth Inequality Drivers in a Small EU Member Country: An Example from Bulgaria during the Period 2005-2017," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 41-72.
    2. Francisco Azpitarte, 2011. "Measurement and identification of asset-poor households: a cross-national comparison of Spain and the United Kingdom," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(1), pages 87-110, March.
    3. Peter Lindner, 2015. "Factor decomposition of the wealth distribution in the euro area," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(2), pages 291-322, May.
    4. Francisco Azpitarte, 2008. "Measurement and Identification of Asset-Poor Households: A Cross-National Comparison of Spain and the United Kingdom," Working Papers 105, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    5. Francisco Azpitarte, 2014. "Measurement and Identification of Asset-Poor Households: A Cross-National Comparison of Spain and the United Kingdom," LWS Working papers 17, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wealth; income; distribution; inequality decomposition.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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