This paper empirically compares the contribution of the two major wealth accumulation
factors - earned income and inheritances - to the net wealth position of households in the
Eurozone. The elasticities of both wealth sources differ considerably across countries and are
overly non-linear. Depending on the position in the wealth distribution, an increase of one percentile in the income distribution corresponds to 0.1-0.6 percentiles in the net wealth distribution. We find substantially stronger effects for inheritances vis-á-vis income. In Greece,
Portugal, and Austria, households have to climb around three percentiles in the income distribution
to compensate a one percentile increase in the inheritance distribution. The findings
clearly suggest that bequests play a stronger role in wealth accumulation than earned income. / Series: INEQ Working Paper Series
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VIENNA/oai:epub.wu-wien.ac.at:4841 |
| Date | 02 1900 |
| Creators | Humer, Stefan, Moser, Mathias, Schnetzer, Matthias |
| Publisher | WU Vienna University of Economics and Business |
| Source Sets | Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Paper, NonPeerReviewed |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Relation | http://www.ineq.at, http://epub.wu.ac.at/4841/ |
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