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Wealth Transfers and Net Wealth at Death: Evidence from the Italian Inheritance Tax Records 1995–2016

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Listed:
  • Paolo Acciari
  • Salvatore Morelli

Abstract

In this paper we describe a novel source of data on the full record of inheritance tax files in Italy, covering up to 63% of total deceased. The work documents a substantial rise in the total value of inheritance and gifts as a share of national income, from 8.4% in 1995 to 15.1% in 2016. Consistent with the increasing role of total personal net wealth in the economy, the weight of inheritance and gifts in Italy appears relatively high by international standards. Over the same period, total wealth left at death has also become increasingly concentrated. The estates valued at least one million Euro were worth 18.7% of total estate in the mid 1990s and 24.8% in 2016. This paper also documents that revenues collected from the inheritance tax underwent a large decline from 0.14% to 0.06% of total tax revenue between 1995 and 2016. Data also allow a disaggregated analysis by demographic and geographic characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Acciari & Salvatore Morelli, 2020. "Wealth Transfers and Net Wealth at Death: Evidence from the Italian Inheritance Tax Records 1995–2016," NBER Working Papers 27899, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27899
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    Cited by:

    1. Paolo Acciari & Facundo Alvaredo & Salvatore Morelli, 2024. "The Concentration of Personal Wealth in Italy 1995–2016," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 1228-1274.
    2. Mazza, Jan, 2025. "Inheritance Expectations, Dynastic Altruism, and Education," SocArXiv 6dzwq_v1, Center for Open Science.
    3. , Stone Center & Nolan, Brian & Palomino, Juan & Van Kerm, Philippe & Morelli, Salvatore, 2020. "Intergenerational Transfers by Size and Wealth Inequality in Rich Countries," SocArXiv eyh8s, Center for Open Science.
    4. Valerio Astuti, 2024. "Who is in equilibrium?," Papers 2402.05716, arXiv.org.
    5. Yonatan Berman & Salvatore Morelli, 2021. "On the Distribution of Estates and the Distribution of Wealth: Evidence from the Dead," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 205-219, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Morelli, Salvatore & Nolan, Brian & Palomino, Juan & Van Kerm, Philippe, 2021. "Inheritance, Gifts and the Wealth Deficit of Low-Income Households," SocArXiv 2mpuh, Center for Open Science.
    7. Michele Cantarella & Andrea Neri & Maria Giovanna Ranalli, 2021. "Mind the wealth gap: a new allocation method to match micro and macro statistics for household wealth," Papers 2101.01085, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2021.
    8. Cuomo, Maria Teresa & Tortora, Debora & Colosimo, Ivan & Ricciardi Celsi, Lorenzo & Genovino, Cinzia & Festa, Giuseppe & La Rocca, Michele, 2023. "Segmenting with big data analytics and Python: A quantitative exploratory analysis of household savings," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    9. Sandra E Black & Paul J Devereux & Fanny Landaud & Kjell G Salvanes, 2025. "The (Un)Importance of Inheritance," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 23(3), pages 1060-1094.
    10. Salvatore Morelli, 2020. "The Dynamics of Wealth Concentration: Thoughts on Tony Atkinson’s Contributions," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 6(1), pages 197-205, March.
    11. Luigi Cannari & Giovanni D�Alessio, 2018. "Wealth inequality in Italy: reconstruction of 1968-75 data and comparison with recent estimates," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 428, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy

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