In this paper, we present updated measures of racial disparities in wealth using the most recent data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), augmented by household-level estimates of defined benefit (DB) pension wealth developed by Sabelhaus and Volz (2020). Including this important asset,...

We experimentally investigate whether people generally perceive inheritance as effort-induced or luck-induced. By randomly matched two strangers in a lab setting, we test whether the sources of opportunity handed down from the 'testator' subjects determines later redistributive decisions among...

In the light of the recent literature on the intellectual history of inequality, this paper offers the first survey and a tentative classification of the Italian literature addressing issues related to social mobility, from late-19th century to the 'Economic Miracle' of the 1950s. During these...

We use Norwegian administrative panel data on wealth and income between 1993 and 2015 to study lifecycle wealth dynamics, focusing on the wealthiest households. On average, the wealthiest start their lives substantially richer than other households in the same cohort, own mostly private equity,...

We experimentally investigate whether people generally perceive inheritance as effort-induced or luck-induced. By randomly matched two strangers in a lab setting, we test whether the sources of opportunity handed down from the 'testator' subjects determines later redistributive decisions among...

A defining feature of meritocratic societies is that resource distributions reflect individual effort levels. However, this introduces a dilemma in a world where parents care for their children. If one pair of parents works harder than a second pair of parents, the first pair has merited the...

Transfers from parents - either in the form of gifts or inheritances - have received much attention as a source of inequality. This paper uses a 19-year panel of administrative data for the population of Norway to examine the share of the Total Inflows available to an individual (defined as the...

Transfers from parents-either in the form of gifts or inheritances-have received much attention as a source of inequality. This paper uses a 19-year panel of administrative data for the population of Norway to examine the share of the Total Inflows available to an individual (defined as the...

Transfers from parents - either in the form of gifts or inheritances - have received much attention as a source of inequality. This paper uses administrative data for the population of Norway to examine the share of the Total Inflows (defined as the capitalized sum of net labor income,...

German history over the past 125 years has been turbulent. Marked by two world wars, revolutions and major regime changes, as well as a hyperinflation and three currency reforms, expropriations and territorial divisions, it provides unique insights into the role of country-specific shocks in...

Based on the most recent data from the ECB's Household Finance and Consumption Survey, the project models the future household-level wealth distribution in five selected EU member countries (Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, and Italy) to derive inheritances based on different demographic and...

Standard models on optimal estate taxation do not allow for intergenerational transmission of bequest motives. However, correlation in bequest motives may exist due to genetic and cultural transmission of preferences or indirect reciprocity. I introduce such intergenerational correlation to a...

This paper examines the impact of the Hindu Succession Act on married women's time use in India. The Hindu Succession Act was amended between 1976 and 2005 by giving equal inheritance rights to women for inheriting property. To estimate the effect of the equal inheritance reform, I devise a...

We evaluate a temporary public sector employment program targeted at individuals with weak labor market attachment, applying dynamic inverse probability weighting to account for dynamic selection. We show that the program is successful in increasing employment and reducing social assistance....

The Ricardian Equivalence Theorem, which is the proposition that changes in the timing of lump-sum taxes have no effect on assumption or capital accumulation, depends on the exist- of operative altruistic motives for intergenerational transfers. These transfers can be bequests from parents to...

In this paper, we conduct a theoretical and empirical analysis of the impact of bequest motives on the work and retirement behavior of households in Japan using micro data from the Preference Parameters Study of Osaka University. Our empirical findings are consistent with our theoretical model...

Retired households, especially those with high lifetime income, decumulate their wealth very slowly, and many die leaving large estates. The three leading explanations for the "retirement savings puzzle" are the desire to insure against uncertain lifespans and medical expenses, the desire to...

Retired households, especially those with high lifetime income, decumulate their wealth very slowly, and many die leaving large estates. The three leading explanations for the ‘retirement savings puzzle' are the desire to insure against uncertain lifespans and medical expenses, the desire to...

We quantify the size and tax-responsiveness of financial transfers made to heirs before death. The wealth of singles (including widows) with children declines substantially in anticipation of death. 92% of this decline is explained by transfers to children, while long-term care copayments can...

We study the optimal long-term care policy when informal care can be provided by children in exchange for monetary transfers by their elderly parents. We consider a bargaining model with single-child families. Daughters have a lower labor market wage and a lower bargaining power within the...

The Forbes 400 is one of the few sources of data that tracks the extremely wealthy in the USAover a significant period of time. We examine this list from 2004 to 2015, which brackets the 2008-09 financial crisis, and compare mobility before and after the crisis. In particular, the pre-crisis...

We provide novel evidence on the linkages between capital taxation and charitable giving on three fronts. First, we use quasi-experimental variation in the annual Norwegian wealth tax to study the effect on how much households give. Inconsistent with the notion that households give more in order...

In recent years, a vast literature has documented how yearly transmissions of wealth through inheritances constitute a non-negligible share of GDP in Western economies. However, it is still somewhat unclear whether these transmissions are invested in human capital and thereby help families...

German history over the past 125 years has been turbulent. Marked by two world wars, revolutions and major regime changes, as well as a hyperinflation and three currency reforms, expropriations and territorial divisions, it provides unique insights into the role of country-specific shocks in...

A defining feature of meritocratic societies is that resource distributions reflect individual effort levels. However, this introduces a dilemma in a world where parents care for their children. If one pair of parents works harder than a second pair of parents, the first pair has merited the...

Objective: This study examines between-sibling inequality in inheritances and investigates whether receiving a larger share of the inheritance is associated with intergenerational exchanges (financial, instrumental, or emotional) or patrilineal factors (gender, birth order, and marital...

The role of tax incentives in charitable giving has seen considerable attention. Yet, attention is limited to direct tax incentives, such as tax deductibility. Whether and how taxing household savings affects charitable giving is largely unexplored. While theory suggests a link, the sign of the...

Intergenerational transmission of wealth is a long-standing component of society. With the current accelerated economic development, the forms of wealth transmission and the ways in which it affects individuals’ lives have gradually become more complicated. In this article, we explore the...

We study the impact of housing wealth and individual preferences on demand for annuities and long-term care insurance (LTCI). We build a multi-state lifecycle model that includes longevity risk and health shocks. The preference is represented by a recursive utility function that separates risk...

This paper examines the relationship between inequality and discrimination. Using a simple model of competitive signaling, this paper shows that income inequality motivates discrimination against low-income group. It is parents' investment on their children's signaling that interlinks inequality...

This paper examines the relationship between inequality and discrimination. Using a simple model of competitive signaling, this paper shows that income inequality motivates discrimination against low-income group. It is parents' investment on their children's signaling that interlinks inequality...

Using a counterfactual approach based on propensity score matching with Rosenbaum bounds in a cross section of 134 countries, we study the causal effect of colonisation on contemporary subjective happiness. Findings reveal that the settled countries, specifically former French colonies,...

Transfers from parents—either in the form of gifts or inheritances—have received much attention as a source of inequality. This paper uses a 19-year panel of administrative data for the population of Norway to examine the share of the Total Inflows available to an individual (defined as the...

We experimentally investigate whether people generally perceive inheritance as effort-induced or luck-induced. By randomly matched two strangers in a lab setting, we test whether the sources of opportunity handed down from the ‘testator’ subjects determines later redistributive decisions...