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The distribution of pension wealth in Europe

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  • OLIVERA Javier

Abstract

The present paper estimates pension wealth inequality among elderly households for 26 EU countries by exploiting cross-sections of the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey. To assess the role of life expectancy inequalities on pension wealth, this paper estimates life tables per educational level with auxiliary data in order to capture socio-economic status (SES). This procedure also distinguishes mortality estimates by sex, birth cohort, and year. The results indicate that differential mortality due to SES increases pension wealth inequality. In most of the countries, this effect has decreased between 2006 and 2014, which means that SES inequalities in mortality are less important in explaining today’s pension wealth inequality. Gini re-centered influence function (RIF) regressions confirm the diminishing influence of tertiary education on pension wealth inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • OLIVERA Javier, 2018. "The distribution of pension wealth in Europe," LISER Working Paper Series 2018-10, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    • Handle: RePEc:irs:cepswp:2018-10
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    3. Álvaro Forteza Galceran, 2023. "The Distribution and Redistribution of Income in the Presence of Pensions," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0323, Department of Economics - dECON.
    4. Oh, Jongseok & Son, Seho & Lee, Kun, 2025. "Exclusion from a ‘mandatory’ pension scheme: Late-stage dropouts from the National Pension System in South Korea," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    5. Valderrama, José A., 2024. "Regressivity in public pension systems: The case of Peru," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    6. Alvaro Forteza & Diego Tuzman, 2024. "The redistributive effect of pensions. The case of Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0924, Department of Economics - dECON.
    7. Florin Cornel DUMITER & Ștefania Amalia NICOARĂ & Marius BOIȚĂ & Erika LOUČANOVÁ & Katarina Repkova STOFKOVA, 2024. "Empirical Study Regarding the Central and Eastern European Countries’ Soundness of Pension Systems. Triangle Assessment: Social, Economic, and Financial Features of Pension Systems," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(4), pages 105-127, December.
    8. Javier Olivera & Jan De Mulder, 2025. "Ageing and the distribution of wealth in Europe," Working Papers 685, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

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    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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