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Accounting for cross-country differences in wealth inequality

Author

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  • Cowell, Frank
  • Karagiannaki, Eleni
  • McKnight, Abigail
Abstract
This paper adopts a counterfactual decomposition analysis to analyse cross-country differences in the size of household wealth and levels of household wealth inequality. The findings of the paper suggest that the biggest share of cross-country differences is not due to differences in the distribution of household demographic and economic characteristics but rather reflect strong unobserved country effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Cowell, Frank & Karagiannaki, Eleni & McKnight, Abigail, 2013. "Accounting for cross-country differences in wealth inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51283, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:51283
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/51283/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frank A Cowell & Eleni Karagiannaki & Abigail McKnight, 2012. "Mapping and measuring the distribution of household wealth: A cross-country analysis," CASE Papers case165, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    2. Frank Cowell & Karagiannaki, E. (Eleni) & Abigail Mcknight, 2012. "GINI DP 71: Mapping and Measuring the Distribution of Household Wealth: A Cross-Country Analysis," GINI Discussion Papers 71, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
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    16. Eva Sierminska & Karina Doorley, 2018. "To own or not to own? Household portfolios, demographics and institutions in a cross-national perspective," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 26(1), pages 1-43, March.
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Accounting for cross-country differences in wealth inequality
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2013-03-26 04:20:26
    2. A case for inequality?
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2013-05-08 17:20:03

    Citations

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    5. Rothwell, David W. & Ottusch, Timothy & Finders, Jennifer K., 2019. "Asset poverty among children: A cross-national study of poverty risk," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 409-419.
    6. Anastasios Evgenidis & Apostolos Fasianos, 2019. "Monetary Policy and Wealth Inequalities in Great Britain: Assessing the role of unconventional policies for a decade of household data," Papers 1912.09702, arXiv.org.
    7. Leo Azzollini & Richard Breen & Brian Nolan, 2023. "Demographic behaviour and earnings inequality across OECD countries," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(2), pages 441-461, June.
    8. Bönke, Timm & Grabka, Markus M. & Schröder, Carsten & Wolff, Edward N., 2020. "A Head-to-Head Comparison of Augmented Wealth in Germany and the United States," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 122(3), pages 1140-1180.
    9. Brzezinski, Michal & Sałach, Katarzyna, 2021. "Factors that account for the wealth inequality differences between post-socialist countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    10. Zelinsky, Tomas, 2014. "Chudoba a deprivácia na Slovensku: Metodologické aspekty a empíria [Poverty and Deprivation in Slovakia: Methodological Aspects and Empirics]," MPRA Paper 76868, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Anastasios Evgenidis & Apostolos Fasianos, 2021. "Unconventional Monetary Policy and Wealth Inequalities in Great Britain," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(1), pages 115-175, February.
    12. Frank A. Cowell & Philippe Kerm, 2015. "Wealth Inequality: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 671-710, September.
    13. Ihle, Dorothee & Siebert-Meyerhoff, Andrea, 2017. "The older, the richer? A decomposition of wealth inequality by age subgroups," CAWM Discussion Papers 97, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    14. Graciela Sanroman & Guillermo Santos, 2021. "The joint distribution of income and wealth in Uruguay," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 40(83), pages 609-642, August.
    15. Md Harun Or Rosid & Zhao Xuefeng & Sk Alamgir Hossain & Mohammad Raihanul Hasan & Md Reza Sultanuzzaman, 2021. "The Impact of GDP on Cross-Country Efficiency in Wealth Maximization: a Joint Analysis Through the Stochastic Frontier and Generalized Method of Moments," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 11(1), pages 1-6.
    16. Sofia Vale & Francisco Camões, 2023. "Households’ Exposure to the Financial Sector as a Driver of Inequality: An Analysis of Advanced and Emerging Economies," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(2), pages 362-402, June.
    17. David Rothwell & Leanne Giordono & Jennifer Robson, 2020. "Public Income Transfers and Wealth Accumulation at the Bottom: Within and Between Country Differences in Canada and the United States," LWS Working papers 31, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    18. Netta Achdut & Lea Achdut, 2022. "Joint Income-Wealth Poverty in a Cross-National Perspective: The Role of Country-Level Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 499-541, November.
    19. Eerola, Essi & Määttänen, Niku, 2015. "Matching and credit frictions in the housing market," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 20/2015, Bank of Finland.
    20. Frank Cowell & Eleni Karagiannaki & Abigail McKnight, 2019. "The changing distribution of wealth in the pre-crisis US and UK: the role of socio-economic factors," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(1), pages 1-24.
    21. Gregor Schwerhoff & Ottmar Edenhofer & Marc Fleurbaey, 2020. "Taxation Of Economic Rents," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 398-423, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    household wealth; wealth inequality; debt; housing assets; educational loans; age-wealth profiles; decomposition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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