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Rich and Ever Richer: Differential Returns Across Socio-Economic Groups

Author

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  • Ederer, Stefan
  • Mayerhofer, Maximilian

  • Rehm, Miriam

Abstract

This paper estimates rates of return across the gross wealth distribution in eight European countries. Like differential saving rates, differential rates of return matter for Post Keynesian theory, because they impact the income and wealth distribution and add an explosive element to growth models. We show that differential rates of return matter empirically by merging data on household balance sheets with long-run returns for individual asset categories. We find that (1) the composition of wealth differentiates between three socioeconomic groups: 30% are asset-poor, 65% are middle-class home owners, and the top 5% are business-owning capitalists; (2) rates of return rise across all groups; and (3) rates of return broadly follow a log-shaped function across the distribution, where inequality in the lower half of the distribution is higher than in the upper half. If socioeconomic groups are collapsed into the bottom 95% workers and top 5% capitalists, then rates of return are 5.6% for the former and 7.2% for the latter.

Suggested Citation

  • Ederer, Stefan & Mayerhofer, Maximilian & Rehm, Miriam, 2019. "Rich and Ever Richer: Differential Returns Across Socio-Economic Groups," Ecological Economic Papers 29, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wus045:7179
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    2. Dögüs, Ilhan, 2021. "Financialisation and market concentration in the USA: A monetary circuit theory," ZÖSS-Discussion Papers 87, University of Hamburg, Centre for Economic and Sociological Studies (CESS/ZÖSS).
    3. Stefan Ederer & Miriam Rehm, 2024. "On the possibility of an ever-increasing wealth concentration: Pasinetti, dual, and anti-dual equilibria in a Post-Keynesian framework," FMM Working Paper 112-2024, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    4. Schulz, Jan & Weber, Jan David, 2025. "Power laws in socio-economics," BERG Working Paper Series 203, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    5. Thomas Gottfried & Stefan Grosskinsky, 2025. "Wages and capital returns in a generalized Pólya urn," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 20(2), pages 477-518, April.
    6. Samuel Forbes & Stefan Grosskinsky, 2021. "A Study of UK Household Wealth through Empirical Analysis and a Non-linear Kesten Process," Papers 2107.02169, arXiv.org.
    7. Stefan Ederer & Miriam Rehm, 2021. "Wealth inequality and aggregate demand," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 405-424, May.
    8. Braun, Benjamin, 2021. "From exit to control: The structural power of finance under asset manager capitalism," SocArXiv 4uesc, Center for Open Science.
    9. Thomas Gottfried & Stefan Grosskinsky, 2024. "Wages and Capital returns in a generalized P\'olya urn," Papers 2401.17688, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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