Rising wealth inequality: Intergenerational links, entrepreneurship, and the decline in interest rate *

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Imrohoroglu, Ayse; Zhao, Kai
• 署名单位: University of Southern California; University of Connecticut
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2022.02.005
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 86-104
• 关键词: Wealth inequality; Intergenerational links; Saving; entrepreneurship; Lifecycle models

摘要

The share of wealth held by the top one percent of Americans has increased from about 24% in 1980 to 40% in 2010. This paper examines the role played by the decline in the world interest rates in accounting for this observation. Our model consists of households who either run a business or work for others. In this environment, the decline in the interest rate increases wealth inequality since entrepreneurs benefit from lower financing costs while workers face lower returns. This channel can account for over 60 percent of the increase in the top wealth shares in the data.