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Marry into New or Old Money? The Distributional Impact of Marital Decisions from an Intergenerational Perspective

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  • Häner, Melanie
  • Salvi, Michele
  • Schaltegger, Christoph A.

Abstract

How sticky is wealth inequality across generations due to marital sorting? To analyze this question, we utilize a comprehensive Swiss dataset. Our findings highlight that marital sorting based on wealth is especially pronounced at the extremes of the wealth distribution, exacerbating wealth inequality. Simultaneously, we observe that the similarity in wealth between the parents of married partners is substantially less pronounced. Our findings suggest a more significant occurrence of marriages into ”new money” than ”old money”. Consequently, our study shows that parental wealth has a limited role in contributing to the inequality stemming from marital choices. We present evidence that intergenerational social mobility plays a pivotal role in counteracting the potential intensification of wealth structures due to marriage.
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  • Häner, Melanie & Salvi, Michele & Schaltegger, Christoph A., 2022. "Marry into New or Old Money? The Distributional Impact of Marital Decisions from an Intergenerational Perspective," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264024, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264024
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    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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