Born with a Silver Spoon? Danish Evidence on Wealth Inequality in Childhood

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Boserup, Simon Halphen; Kopczuk, Wojciech; Kreiner, Claus Thustrup
• 署名单位: University of Copenhagen; Columbia University; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR)
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12496
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: F514-F544
• 关键词: transfers; bequests; mobility; estate

摘要

We use Danish wealth records from three decades to characterise wealth inequality in childhood, where the main source of wealth is transfers. Wealth holdings are small in childhood but they have strong predictive power for future wealth in adulthood. At age 18, asset holdings of children are more informative than parental wealth in predicting wealth of children when they are in their 40s. We investigate why and rule out that childhood wealth in itself can accumulate enough to explain later wealth inequality. Instead, childhood wealth seems to proxy for intergenerational correlation in savings behaviour and additional transfers from parents.