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Household wealth in the euro area: The importance of intergenerational transfers, homeownership and house price dynamics

Author

Listed:
  • Mathä, Thomas Y.
  • Porpiglia, Alessandro
  • Ziegelmeyer, Michael

    (Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA))

Abstract

Results from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey reveal substantial variation in household net wealth across euro area countries that await explanation. This paper focuses on three main factors for the wealth accumulation process, i) homeownership, ii) housing value appreciation and iii) intergenerational transfers. We show that these three factors, in addition to the common household and demographic factors, are relevant for the net wealth cumulation process in all euro area countries, and moreover that, using various decomposition techniques, differences therein, in particular in homeownership rates and house price dynamics, are important for explaining wealth differences across euro area countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathä, Thomas Y. & Porpiglia, Alessandro & Ziegelmeyer, Michael, 2014. "Household wealth in the euro area: The importance of intergenerational transfers, homeownership and house price dynamics," MEA discussion paper series 201412, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:mea:meawpa:201412
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • C42 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Survey Methods

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