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Bequests and the Accumulation of Wealth in the Eurozone

Humer, Stefan

and

Moser, Mathias

and Schnetzer, Matthias

INEQ Working Paper Series

, 1. WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna. 2016.
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Keywords and Classifikation

Wealth distribution
household structure

JEL-Classification C21, D31  

PubliCation ePubWU

Key Questions
  • Which households are located at the top of the wealth distribution in the Eurozone?

  • How do bequests influence the probability of going to the top of the wealth distribution?

  • What is the relationship between bequests and income concerning the accumulation of wealth?

  • Do these processes differ between the countries of the Eurozone?

Key Findings
  • Countries are not represented within the distribution according to their populations

  • The chances of going to the top of the wealth distribution are significantly influenced by bequests

  • Bequests play a different role concerning the accumulation of wealth in the top percentiles than at the bottom of the distribution

  • Inheritances play a crucial role with respect to the accumulation of wealth and the positioning of households in the net-wealth distribution