Comparing Child Wealth Inequality Across Countries

Abstract

and economic contexts. We demonstrate that in most of these countries, as one would expect, children experience lower levels of household wealth than the rest of the population, in particular seniors. Children also tend to experience greater wealth inequality and concentration. In many countries, their disadvantage is quite large, and nowhere more so than in the United States. Further, research that has established the shape and determinants of income inequality among children cannot provide much guidance for the assessment of the shape and determinants of wealth inequality among children because national levels of child income inequality and child wealth inequality are uncorrelated. That is, countries often differ significantly in the level of inequality among chil- Comparing Child Wealth Inequality Across CountriesFa bI a n t. pFeFFer a nd nor a wa Itk us This article compares the wealth situation of children across fourteen countries. Children experience lower levels of wealth than the rest of the population, seniors in particular. We show that, in most countries, child wealth is distributed substantially more unequally than the wealth of seniors. We also demonstrate that an international ranking of child wealth inequality diverges sharply from one based on child income inequality. The wealth situation of children in the United States is exceptional: they lag further behind seniors in terms of their wealth and face the highest levels of wealth inequality and, by far, wealth concentration.

Childhood Wealth Inequality in the United States: Implications for Social Stratification and Well-Being

“…We are gaining a deeper and more troubling understanding of the contours of wealth for American children. As a country, America stands apart from other Western democracies, insofar as levels of child household wealth are distributed far more unequally than in other parts of the globe ( Pfeffer and Waitkus 2021 , this issue). Racial and ethnic disparities are profound, with black and Hispanic families having pennies on the dollar for every dollar of white wealth.…”

“…Additionally, research has yet to address how household wealth intersects with salient contexts of the child’s life because most studies operationalize wealth as acting independently of factors such as school quality or neighborhood context. Although it is clear that wealth inequality for American children far outstrips that in other countries ( Pfeffer and Waitkus 2021 ), the social and policy levers that account for that differential are unknown. Finally, despite some emerging evidence, the work on how policies affect levels of wealth for children is sparse.…”

Intra-Couple Wealth Inequality: What’s Socio-Demographics Got to Do with it?

“…Wealth inequality within couples by age may be due to life-cycle factors (i.e., age) or cohort effects (Pfeffer & Waitkus, 2021a). 2 The life-cycle hypothesis predicts that resources are accumulated during the economically active years and are spent down in retirement (Modigliani, 1966).…”

Effect of Wealth Inequality on Child and Infant Mortality in Togo

“…Empirically, several studies that have tried to establish the relationship between wealth inequality and the health of populations in developing countries have come to the conclusion that there is a negative relationship between wealth inequality and public health [15]- [17]. On the other hand, studies conducted by [18] show that in developing countries, changes in the level of wealth inequality do not in any way modify the health of populations.…”

“…These studies show that wealth inequality has a significant impact, among other things, on life expectancy [20], infant mortality [21], the Depression [22], mortality risk [23]. The different forms of inequality affect in different ways the health of individuals in general and that of mothers and children in particular [15], [17]. Maternal health is particularly associated with access to basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity, availability of housing, and access to health care.…”