IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/vfsc15/113026.html

Wealth Inequality and Homeownership in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Preugschat, Edgar
  • Kaas, Leo
  • Kocharkov, Georgi

Abstract

The nine largest countries in the Euro area have surprisingly different degrees of wealth inequality. At the same time, there is a strong negative correlation between wealth inequality and homeownership rates across countries. To account for this fact, we first analyze decompositions of the Gini coefficient across subgroups of households. The main contributing factor for the negative correlation with homeownership appears to be inequality between homeowners and renters. In a second step, we estimate the effects of homeownership on the Gini using a Recentered Influence Function (RIF) regression approach. The coefficients on homeownership are significantly negative and are positively correlated with between group Ginis (owners vs renters) across countries. To better understand the effect of ownership on inequality we regress ownership on individual quantiles. For most countries the effect of ownership is strongest for quantiles below the median. This suggests that policies promoting homeownership for lower wealth groups should have the largest impact wealth inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Preugschat, Edgar & Kaas, Leo & Kocharkov, Georgi, 2015. "Wealth Inequality and Homeownership in Europe," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113026, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:113026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/113026/1/VfS_2015_pid_826.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    2. Köhler-Ulbrich, Petra & Asimakopoulos, Yannis & Doyle, Nicola & Magono, Ruth & Zachary, Marie-Denise & Walko, Zoltan & Stoess, Elmar & Kok, Christoffer & Wagner, Karin & Valckx, Nico & Martínez Pagés,, 2009. "Housing finance in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 101, European Central Bank.
    3. Ben Jann, 2008. "A Stata implementation of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition," ETH Zurich Sociology Working Papers 5, ETH Zurich, Chair of Sociology, revised 14 May 2008.
    4. Lambert, Peter J & Aronson, J Richard, 1993. "Inequality Decomposition Analysis and the Gini Coefficient Revisited," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(420), pages 1221-1227, September.
    5. Rothe, Christoph, 2009. "Unconditional Partial Effects of Binary Covariates," TSE Working Papers 09-79, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    6. James B. Davies & Susanna Sandström & Anthony Shorrocks & Edward N. Wolff, 2011. "The Level and Distribution of Global Household Wealth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(551), pages 223-254, March.
    7. Dimitris Christelis & Dimitris Georgarakos & Michael Haliassos, 2013. "Differences in Portfolios across Countries: Economic Environment versus Household Characteristics," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(1), pages 220-236, March.
    8. Victor Chernozhukov & Christian Hansen, 2004. "The Effects of 401(K) Participation on the Wealth Distribution: An Instrumental Quantile Regression Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(3), pages 735-751, August.
    9. José A. F. Machado & José Mata, 2005. "Counterfactual decomposition of changes in wage distributions using quantile regression," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 445-465, May.
    10. Sergio Firpo & Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Unconditional Quantile Regressions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 953-973, May.
    11. Eva Sierminska & Andrea Brandolini & Timothy Smeeding, 2006. "The Luxembourg Wealth Study – A cross-country comparable database for household wealth research," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 4(3), pages 375-383, December.
    12. Mookherjee, Dilip & Shorrocks, Anthony F, 1982. "A Decomposition Analysis of the Trend in UK Income Inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(368), pages 886-902, December.
    13. Chiuri, Maria Concetta & Jappelli, Tullio, 2003. "Financial market imperfections and home ownership: A comparative study," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 857-875, October.
    14. Mathä, Thomas Y. & Porpiglia, Alessandro & Ziegelmeyer, Michael, 2017. "Household wealth in the euro area: The importance of intergenerational transfers, homeownership and house price dynamics," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-12.
    15. Lerman, Robert I & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1985. "Income Inequality Effects by Income," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 151-156, February.
    16. Olympia Bover, 2010. "Wealth Inequality And Household Structure: U.S. Vs. Spain," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(2), pages 259-290, June.
    17. Fessler, Pirmin & Lindner, Peter & Segalla, Esther, 2014. "Net wealth across the euro area - why household structure matters and how to control for it," Working Paper Series 1663, European Central Bank.
    18. Francesco Drudi & Petra Köhler-Ulbrich & Marco Protopapa & Jiri Slacalek & Christoffer Kok Sørensen & Guido Wolswijk & Ramón Gómez Salvador & Ruth Magono & Nico Valckx & Elmar Stöss & Gerbert Hebbink , 2009. "Housing Finance in the Euro Area," Occasional Paper Series 101, European Central Bank.
    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. Mathä, Thomas Y. & Porpiglia, Alessandro & Ziegelmeyer, Michael, 2017. "Household wealth in the euro area: The importance of intergenerational transfers, homeownership and house price dynamics," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Michał Brzeziński & Katarzyna Sałach, 2020. "Why wealth inequality differs between post-socialist countries?," Working Papers 2020-14, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    3. Dimitris Christelis & Michael Ehrmann & Dimitris Georgarakos, 2021. "Exploring Differences in Household Debt across the United States and Euro Area Countries," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(2-3), pages 477-501, March.
    4. Dimitris Christelis & Michael Ehrmann & Dimitris Georgarakos, 2015. "Exploring Differences in Household Debt Across Euro Area Countries and the United States," Staff Working Papers 15-16, Bank of Canada.
    5. Marcin Wroński, 2022. "Household wealth in Central and Eastern Europe Explaining the wealth gap between Poland and Hungary," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 53(5), pages 443-474.
    6. Francisco Azpitarte, 2010. "The household wealth distribution in Spain: The role of housing and financial wealth," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 194(3), pages 65-90, October.
    7. Peter Lindner, 2015. "Factor decomposition of the wealth distribution in the euro area," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(2), pages 291-322, May.
    8. 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.
    9. Francisco Azpitarte, 2008. "The Household Wealth Distribution in Spain: The Role of Housing and Financial Wealth," Working Papers 83, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    10. Hazarika, Bhabesh, 2017. "Decomposition of Gender Income Gap in Rural Informal Micro-enterprises: An Unconditional Quantile Approach in the Handloom Industry," Working Papers 17/216, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    11. Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & Maria Silgoner & Elisabeth Ulbrich, 2018. "Financial literacy gaps across countries: the role of individual characteristics and institutions," Working and Discussion Papers WP 2/2018, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    12. Leo Azzollini & Richard Breen & Brian Nolan, 2023. "Demographic behaviour and earnings inequality across OECD countries," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(2), pages 441-461, June.
    13. Frank Cowell & Eleni Karagiannaki & Abigail Mcknight, 2018. "Accounting for Cross†Country Differences in Wealth Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 332-356, June.
    14. Weiou Wu & Apostolos Fasianos & Stephen Kinsella, 2015. "Differences in Borrowing Behaviour between Core and Peripheral Economies — Economic Environment versus Financial Perceptions," Working Papers 201516, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    15. SIERMINSKA Eva & DOORLEY Karina, 2012. "Decomposing household wealth portfolios across countries: An age-old question?," LISER Working Paper Series 2012-32, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    16. repec:jid:journl:y:2018:v:26:i:3:p:15-49 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. El Moctar LAGHLAL, 2018. "Decomposition of urban-rural inequality in Mauritania," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2587, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    18. Carla Canelas & Silvia Salazar, 2014. "Gender and Ethnicity in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Guatemala," Working Papers 179, Development and Policies Research Center (DEPOCEN), Vietnam.
    19. Orlando Sotomayor, 2019. "Growth with reduction in poverty and inequality: did Brazil show the way?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(4), pages 521-541, December.
    20. Stefan Humer & Mathias Moser & Matthias Schnetzer, 2017. "Inheritances and the Accumulation of Wealth in the Eurozone," ICAE Working Papers 73, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    21. Raymundo Campos & Gerardo Esquivel & Nora Lustig, 2012. "The Rise and Fall of Income Inequality in Mexico, 1989–2010," Working Papers 267, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

    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
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

    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:zbw:vfsc15:113026. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfsocea.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.