19 The World Distribution of Household Wealth

Abstract

There has been much recent research on the world distribution of income, but also growing recognition of the importance of other contributions to well‐being, including those of household wealth. Wealth is important in providing security and opportunity, particularly in poorer countries that lack full social safety nets and adequate facilities for borrowing and lending. This chapter finds, however, that it is precisely in the latter countries that household wealth is the lowest, both in absolute and relative terms. Globally, wealth is more concentrated than income, on both an individual and a national basis. Roughly 30 per cent of world wealth is found in each of North America, Europe, and the rich Asian‐Pacific countries. These areas account for virtually all world's top 1% of wealth holders. On an official exchange‐rate basis, India accounts for about a quarter of the adults in the bottom three global wealth deciles, while China provides about a third of those in the fourth to eighth deciles. If current growth trends continue, India, China, and the transition countries will move up in the global distribution, and the lower deciles will be increasingly dominated by countries in Africa, Latin American, and poor parts of the Asian‐Pacific region. Thus wealth may continue to be lowest in areas where it is needed the most.

Bequests, taxation and the distribution of wealth in a general equilibrium model

“…Expected wealth increases over time when a i0 < k, it decreases when a i0 > k. The variance of wealth (16) unambiguously increases over time but approaches a constant.…”

“…Wealth is highly concentrated: in many industrial countries, the share of the richest 1% of households in net worth is estimated to be 20-30% (see Davies and Shorrocks, 2000), whereas an equal distribution would imply that any π% of the population earn π% of wealth. Wealth transfers in form 1 of bequests or inter vivo transfers are often seen as one of the major culprits for the wealth inequality.…”

Long-Run Trends in the Distribution of Income and Wealth

“…In the end it is based on our subjective reading of which aspects we think are key for understanding the long run developments of inequality, especially in light of the new evidence produced in the past decade. Furthermore, much of what we write about has been covered in previous over-views and surveys of the top incomes literature (Piketty, 2005;Piketty and Saez, 2006;Piketty, 2007, 2010;Leigh, 2009;Atkinson, Piketty andSaez, 2010, 2011), overviews of the changing earnings distribution (Atkinson 2008a) and in overviews on wealth concentration trends (Wolff, 1996;Davies andShorrocks, 2000, Atkinson, 2008b;Ohlsson, Roine and Waldenström, 2008). In general, our aim is to focus on the most recent work in the field building on previous surveys such as and Morrisson (2000).…”

Why Is the Estate Tax so Controversial?

“…Since the distribution of wealth in society is hugely unequal, so is the transfer of this wealth mortis causa. The richest 10% of households in the United States owns almost 70% of all private wealth, while the bottom 50% of households must content itself with a meager share of 2.8% (Davies et al 2006: Table 9; Keister and Moller 2000). But, it is not only the consequences of the bequest of private wealth for the continuation of social inequality that makes it a relevant topic for sociological research.…”