IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/onb/oenbwp/266.html

Health and long-term care insurance wealth in Austria (Reinhard Koman, Maria Hofmarcher, Robert Holzmann)

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Hofmarcher

    (HS&I Health System Intelligence e.U.)

  • Robert Holzmann
  • Reinhard Koman

    (Oesterreichische Nationalbank)

Abstract

Estimates of social insurance pension wealth are available for a number of Western economies, including Austria for the year 2017. Such wealth may be compared with conventional wealth in terms of size and distribution and when we add such estimates to measures of wealth in the conventional sense, we arrive at measures of augmented wealth. In this paper, we estimate health and long-term care insurance wealth in Austria and add that to conventional wealth estimates for Austria to achieve a further measure of augmented wealth. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt worldwide to do this. The resulting magnitude of health and long-term care insurance wealth is substantial, namely EUR 238,000 at the household level. It is comparable in scale to both pension insurance wealth (EUR 245,000) and net wealth in the conventional sense, i.e. property plus financial wealth minus debt (EUR 250,000). As regards distributive characteristics, health and longterm care insurance wealth is rather equally distributed (Gini coefficient of 0.31), compared to pension insurance wealth (0.45) and conventional wealth in Austria (0.73). The Gini coefficient for the new augmented wealth distribution (conventional wealth plus health and long-term care insurance wealth) is 0.47.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Hofmarcher & Robert Holzmann & Reinhard Koman, 2025. "Health and long-term care insurance wealth in Austria (Reinhard Koman, Maria Hofmarcher, Robert Holzmann)," Working Papers 266, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    • Handle: RePEc:onb:oenbwp:266
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.oenb.at/dam/jcr:29706685-3f64-497f-baa0-ade3dd21b3e5/wp-266.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Holzmann, Robert & Jousten, Alain, 2012. "Conceptualizing, measuring and financing the legacy costs in an NDC reform," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 606-630, October.
    2. Bravo, Jorge M. & Ayuso, Mercedes & Holzmann, Robert & Palmer, Edward, 2021. "Addressing the life expectancy gap in pension policy," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 200-221.
    3. Thomas F. Crossley & Cormac O'Dea & Rowena Crawford & Andrew Hood, 2016. "Lifetime Receipt of Inheritances and the Distribution of Wealth in England," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 37, pages 55-75, March.
    4. Timm Bönke & Markus M. Grabka & Carsten Schröder & Edward N. Wolff & Lennard Zyska, 2019. "The Joint Distribution of Net Worth and Pension Wealth in Germany," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(4), pages 834-871, December.
    5. Richard V. Burkhauser & Jeff Larrimore & Kosali Simon, 2013. "Measuring The Impact Of Valuing Health Insurance On Levels And Trends In Inequality And How The Affordable Care Act Of 2010 Could Affect Them," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(4), pages 779-794, October.
    6. David Cutler & Angus Deaton & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "The Determinants of Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 97-120, Summer.
    7. Jesper Roine & Daniel Waldenström, 2009. "Wealth Concentration over the Path of Development: Sweden, 1873–2006," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 111(1), pages 151-187, March.
    8. Silvia Rocha-Akis & Jürgen Bierbaumer & Benjamin Bittschi & Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Martina Einsiedl & Marian Fink & Michael Klien & Simon Loretz & Christine Mayrhuber, 2023. "Umverteilung durch den Staat in Österreich 2019 und Entwicklungen von 2005 bis 2019," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 69741.
    9. Robert Kaestner & Darren Lubotsky, 2016. "Health Insurance and Income Inequality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 53-78, Spring.
    10. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Corinth, Kevin & Elwell, James & Larrimore, Jeff, 2019. "Evaluating the Success of President Johnson's War on Poverty: Revisiting the Historical Record Using a Full-Income Poverty Measure," IZA Discussion Papers 12855, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Richard V. Burkhauser & Kevin Corinth & James Elwell & Jeff Larrimore, 2019. "Evaluating the Success of President Johnson’s War on Poverty: Revisiting the Historical Record Using an Absolute Full-Income Poverty Measure," NBER Working Papers 26532, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Rasner, Anika & Frick, Joachim R. & Grabka, Markus M., 2013. "Statistical Matching of Administrative and Survey Data: An Application to Wealth Inequality Analysis," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 42(2), pages 192-224.
    13. Ursina Kuhn, 2020. "Augmented wealth in Switzerland: the influence of pension wealth on wealth inequality," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 156(1), pages 1-16, December.
    14. Robert Holzmann & Johannes Koettl, 2015. "Portability of Pension, Health, and Other Social Benefits: Facts, Concepts, and Issues," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 61(2), pages 377-415.
    15. Davies, James B. & Shorrocks, Anthony F., 2000. "The distribution of wealth," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 605-675, Elsevier.
    16. Peter Zweifel & Stefan Felder & Markus Meiers, 1999. "Ageing of population and health care expenditure: a red herring?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(6), pages 485-496, September.
    17. John Sabelhaus & Alice Henriques Volz, 2020. "Social Security Wealth, Inequality, and Life-cycle Saving: An Update," Working Papers wp416, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    18. Pirmin Fessler & Peter Lindner & Martin Schürz, 2019. "Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey 2017 for Austria," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 18/Q4, pages 36-66.
    19. Maximilian Longmuir, 2023. "Fair crack of the whip? The distribution of augmented wealth in Australia from 2002 to 2018," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(4), pages 835-866, December.
    20. Pirmin Fessler & Peter Lindner & Martin Schürz, 2019. "Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey 2017 for Austria," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q4/18, pages 36-66.
    21. Robert Holzmann & Robert Palacios & Asta Zviniene, 2001. "On the Economics and Scope of Implicit Pension Debt: An International Perspective," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 28(1), pages 97-129, March.
    22. Pirmin Fessler & Martin Schürz, 2018. "Private Wealth Across European Countries: The Role of Income, Inheritance and the Welfare State," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 521-549, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Markus Knell & Reinhard Koman, 2022. "Pension Entitlements and Net Wealth in Austria (Markus Knell, Reinhard Koman)," Working Papers 238, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    2. Sierminska, Eva & Wroński, Marcin, 2022. "Inequality and Public Pension Entitlements," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1212, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Wroński, Marcin, 2023. "The impact of social security wealth on the distribution of wealth in the European Union," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    4. Davies, James B. & Lluberas, Rodrigo & Waldenström, Daniel, 2024. "Long-Term Trends in the Distribution of Wealth and Inheritance," Working Paper Series 1502, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    5. Elinder, Mikael & Erixson, Oscar & Waldenström, Daniel, 2018. "Inheritance and wealth inequality: Evidence from population registers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 17-30.
    6. Karla Cordova & Markus M. Grabka & Eva Sierminska, 2022. "Pension Wealth and the Gender Wealth Gap," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(4), pages 755-810, October.
    7. Morelli, Salvatore & Nolan, Brian & Palomino, Juan C. & Van Kerm, Philippe, 2025. "Corrigendum to “The influence of inheritances on wealth inequality in rich countries”. [J. Public Econ. 247 (2025) 105398]," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    8. Waldenström, Daniel, 2024. "Wealth and history: A reappraisal," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Nolan, Brian & C. Palomino, Juan, 2024. "The Gender Wealth Gap and the Role of Private Pension Wealth in Great Britain," INET Oxford Working Papers 2024-03, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    10. Daniel Waldenström, 2021. "Wealth and History: An Update," CESifo Working Paper Series 9366, CESifo.
    11. Waldenström, Daniel, 2021. "Wealth and History: An Update," Working Paper Series 1411, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    12. Bertrand Garbinti & Jonathan Goupille-Lebret & Thomas Piketty, 2016. "Accounting for Wealth Inequality Dynamics: Methods, Estimates and Simulations for France (1800-2014)," World Inequality Lab Working Papers halshs-02794339, HAL.
    13. Theine, Hendrik, 2019. "The media coverage of wealth and inheritance taxation in Germany," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 290, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    14. Hasan, Iftekhar & Horvath, Roman & Mares, Jan, 2020. "Finance and wealth inequality," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    15. Hochguertel, Stefan & Ohlsson, Henry, 2012. "Who is at the top? Wealth mobility over the life cycle," Working Paper Series, Center for Fiscal Studies 2012:1, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    16. Ursina Kuhn, 2020. "Augmented wealth in Switzerland: the influence of pension wealth on wealth inequality," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 156(1), pages 1-16, December.
    17. Massimiliano Piacenza & Gilberto Turati, 2014. "Does Fiscal Discipline Towards Subnational Governments Affect Citizens' Well‐Being? Evidence On Health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 199-224, February.
    18. Bruce D. Meyer & Derek Wu & Grace Finley & Patrick Langetieg & Carla Medalia & Mark Payne & Alan Plumley, 2020. "The Accuracy of Tax Imputations: Estimating Tax Liabilities and Credits Using Linked Survey and Administrative Data," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 459-498, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2012. "Taxation of Intergenerational Transfers and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 18584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Maria Gheorghe & Susan Picavet & Monique Verschuren & Werner B. F. Brouwer & Pieter H. M. Baal, 2017. "Health losses at the end of life: a Bayesian mixed beta regression approach," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 180(3), pages 723-749, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:onb:oenbwp:266. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Markus Knell (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/oenbbat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.