Recent Trends in the Size Distribution of Household Wealth

Wolff, Edward N.

doi:10.1257/jep.12.3.131

Cited by 370 publications

(179 citation statements)

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“…4 We distinguish between three definitions of private wealth holdings: net worth, net financial assets and housing equity. Net worth of the household is defined as the value of all assets less the value of all debts; see Wolff (1998) for a definition of household wealth. Total assets are defined as the sum of the values of the owner-occupied house, other real estate, checking and savings accounts, 5 risky assets (i.e.…”

Section: Economic Resources After Retirementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Saving Behavior and Portfolio Choice After Retirement

2015

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This paper reviews the literature on saving behavior and portfolio choice after retirement and provides a descriptive analysis of this behavior by Dutch elderly households. Studying saving behavior in the Netherlands is informative because of the very different institutional background compared to the US, for which most of the empirical evidence is. In the Netherlands, the generous pension system and almost complete coverage of the public health-and long-term care insurance system makes precautionary saving less necessary. Using detailed administrative data, we present evidence on the extent to which the financial resources of retirees are affected by shocks such as the decease of a spouse or deteriorating health-similar to recent empirical studies by Poterba et al. ( 2014) for the US. Moreover, we examine the extent to which retirees who do not experience any shocks are able to keep positive wealth at their disposal and sustain their consumption level during retirement. Our results show that the death of the spouse results in a significant reduction of household wealth compared to surviving couples-which is also found in the USwhile health shocks result in higher household savings in old-age due to the almost complete coverage of health care expenditures. Although retirees in the Netherlands face limited uncertainty about health expenditures, our analysis shows that the elderly, on average, keep large amounts of assets even at a very old age. Our findings suggest that (1) the generous pension benefits are protective of household wealth, (2) illiquid housing wealth constrains the decumulation of household wealth, (3) bequests and transfers after the death of the first spouse are important.

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Section: Economic Resources After Retirementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Saving Behavior and Portfolio Choice After Retirement

2015

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“…Moreover, housing does not only provide direct services to a family (Wolff 1998) but may also increase life satisfaction and improve physical and psychological health (Rohe, Zandt, and McCarthy 2001). Additionally, even after controlling for income, children of home-owners are more likely to attain higher education levels than children of renters (Green and White 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home-Ownership and Economic Performance of Immigrants in Germany

Sinning

2006

SSRN Journal

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Home-ownership and Economic Performance of Immigrants in GermanyAbstract This paper analyzes the home-ownership gap between native and immigrant households in Germany, paying particular attention to the assimilation process of immigrant households. A double cohort approach is applied to investigate the effect of the duration of residence in Germany on the homeownership probability of immigrant households. Moreover, focusing on homeowners, differences in the housing quality between native and immigrant households are being examined. The estimates indicate that immigrant households are less likely to own their primary residence than comparable native households. Since the effect of the duration of residence in Germany on the home-ownership probability turns out to be insignificant, the empirical findings suggest that an assimilation process in home-ownership between native and immigrant households does not take place. Finally, differences in housing quality measures become insignificant after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics and contextual factors of native and immigrant households in an interacted model.

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“…Previous work (see Wolff, 1987Wolff, , 1994Wolff, , 1998Wolff, , 2002Wolff, , and 2011, using the SCF, presented evidence of sharply increasing household wealth inequality between 1983 and 1989 followed by …”

Section: Background On Wealth Trendsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Deconstructing Household Wealth Trends in the United States, 1983 - 2013

Wolff¹

2016

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These two movements can be traced to the high leverage of middle class families, the high share of homes in their portfolio, and the drop in house prices. There was virtually no change in median wealth and wealth inequality from 2010 to 2013 according to the SCF despite the recovery in asset prices. A decomposition analysis based on "pseudo-panels" indicates that for the middle three wealth quintiles, capital revaluation explained virtually all of the change in simulated mean wealth over the 1983-1989, 1989-2001, 2001-2007, 2007-2010, and 2010-2013 periods, and implicit savings were negative. Trends in inequality as measured by the change in the P99/P2080 ratio largely reflected differences in rates of return and savings rates between the top one percent and the middle three wealth quintiles. Over 1983-1989, the higher savings rate of the top group explained all the increase.

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Recent Trends in the Size Distribution of Household Wealth

Cited by 370 publications

References 4 publications

Saving Behavior and Portfolio Choice After Retirement

Saving Behavior and Portfolio Choice After Retirement

Home-Ownership and Economic Performance of Immigrants in Germany

Deconstructing Household Wealth Trends in the United States, 1983 - 2013

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