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Wealth Inequality and Homeownership in Europe

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  • 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.

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  • 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
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    Cited by:

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    2. Brindusa Anghel & Henrique Basso & Olympia Bover & José María Casado & Laura Hospido & Mario Izquierdo & Ivan A. Kataryniuk & Aitor Lacuesta & José Manuel Montero & Elena Vozmediano, 2018. "Income, consumption and wealth inequality in Spain," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 351-387, November.
    3. Bönke, Timm & Grabka, Markus M. & Schröder, Carsten & Wolff, Edward N., 2020. "A Head-to-Head Comparison of Augmented Wealth in Germany and the United States," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 122(3), pages 1140-1180.
    4. Engel, Janina & Riera, Pau Gayà & Grilli, Joseph & Sola, Pierre, 2022. "Developing reconciled quarterly distributional national wealth – insight into inequality and wealth structures," Working Paper Series 2687, European Central Bank.
    5. Michał Brzeziński & Katarzyna Sałach, 2020. "Why wealth inequality differs between post-socialist countries?," Working Papers 2020-14, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    6. Pham-Dao, Lien, 2016. "Public Insurance and Wealth Inequality - A Euro Area Analysis," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145942, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Brzezinski, Michal & Sałach, Katarzyna, 2021. "Factors that account for the wealth inequality differences between post-socialist countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    8. Stephan L. Thomsen & Daniel Vogt & Lars Brausewetter, 2020. "Mietwohnungsknappheit in Deutschland: Ursachen, Instrumente, Implikationen [Shortage of Rental Housing in Germany: Causes, Instruments, Implications]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 100(6), pages 461-467, June.
    9. Leo Kaas & Georgi Kocharkov & Edgar Preugschat & Nawid Siassi, 2021. "Low Homeownership in Germany—a Quantitative Exploration," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 128-164.
    10. Carole Bonnet & Bertrand Garbinti & Sébastien Grobon, 2018. "Rising inequalities in access to home ownership among young households in France, 1973-2013," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 500-501-5, pages 117-138.
    11. Bárbara Castillo, 2020. "Trends in intergenerational homeownership mobility in France between 1960-2015," Working Papers halshs-02511116, HAL.
    12. Biewen, Martin & Glaisner, Stefan & Kleimann, Rolf, 2021. "A Convenient Representation of the Wealth Distribution and More Evidence on Homeownership and Wealth Inequality in Euro Area Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 14842, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Anna Boldizsár & Zsuzsa Kékesi & Balázs Kóczián & Balázs Sisak, 2016. "The Wealth Position of Hungarian Households based on HFCS," Financial and Economic Review, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary), vol. 15(4), pages 115-150.
    14. Garbinti Bertrand & Savignac Frédérique, 2018. "The role of real estate in euro area wealth inequality: lessons from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey," Rue de la Banque, Banque de France, issue 55, january.
    15. Thomsen, Stephan L & Vogt, Daniel & Brausewetter, Lars, 2019. "Wohnungsmarkt und Wohnungspolitik in Deutschland: Situation und Optionen," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-658, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    16. Orsetta Causa & Nicolas Woloszko & David Leite, 2020. "Housing, Wealth Accumulation and Wealth Distribution: Evidence and Stylized Facts," LWS Working papers 30, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    17. Zhang, Ping & Sun, Lin & Zhang, Chuanyong, 2021. "Understanding the role of homeownership in wealth inequality: Evidence from urban China (1995–2018)," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    18. Leo Kaas & Georgi Kocharkov & Edgar Preugschat, 2019. "Does homeownership promote wealth accumulation?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(14), pages 1186-1191, August.
    19. Kacper Grejcz & Zbigniew Żółkiewski, 2017. "Household wealth in Poland: the results of a new survey of household finance," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 48(3), pages 295-326.

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

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