scholarly journals Is the Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution the Missing Link Between the Household Finance and Consumption Survey and National Accounts?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Chakraborty ◽  
Ilja Kristian Kavonius ◽  
Sebastien Perez-Duarte ◽  
Philip Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Household Finance ◽  
National Accounts ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
Consumption Survey

scholarly journals Is the Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution the Missing Link between the Household Finance and Consumption Survey and National Accounts?

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Chakraborty ◽  
Ilja Kristian Kavonius ◽  
Sébastien Pérez-Duarte ◽  
Philip Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
Pareto Distribution ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Household Finance ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
National Accounts ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
System Of National Accounts ◽  
Household Sector ◽  
Consumption Survey ◽  
Asset Holdings

Abstract The financial accounts of the household sector within the system of national accounts report the aggregate asset holdings and liabilities of all households within a country. In principle, when household wealth surveys are explicitly designed to be representative of all households, aggregating these microdata should correspond to the macro-aggregates. In practice, however, differences are large. We first discuss conceptual and generic differences between those two sources of data. Thereafter, we investigate missing top tail observation from wealth surveys as a source of discrepancy. By fitting a Pareto distribution to the upper tail, we provide an estimate of how much of the gap between the micro- and macrodata is caused by the underestimation of the top tail of the wealth distribution. Conceptual and generic differences, as well as missing top tail observations, explain part of the gap between financial accounts and survey aggregates.

scholarly journals Redistribution in a joint income–wealth perspective: A cross-country comparison

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kuypers ◽  
Francesco Figari ◽  
Gerlinde Verbist
Keyword(s):  
Joint Distribution ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Household Finance ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Microsimulation Model ◽  
Country Comparison ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Redistributive Effects ◽  
Distribution Of Income ◽  
Consumption Survey

AbstractRedistribution is usually understood in terms of income, as a resource used to rank individuals as well as determine tax liabilities or benefit entitlements. Yet, it is increasingly argued that more prominence should be given to the joint distribution of income and wealth and interest into the taxation of wealth for redistributive purposes has largely increased. By including income and wealth data from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey into the tax–benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD, we add two novel aspects to the literature. First, we include the analysis of taxes on wealth and wealth transfers. Second, we evaluate redistributive effects of tax–benefit systems against the joint income–wealth distribution instead of income only. We show that expressing living standards in terms of both income and wealth results in considerable reranking of individuals, which in turn leads to a lower redistributive impact of tax–benefit systems than is traditionally considered.

scholarly journals What explains the gender gap in wealth? Evidence from administrative data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaanika Meriküll ◽  
Merike Kukk ◽  
Tairi Rõõm
Keyword(s):  
Administrative Data ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Household Finance ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Asset Class ◽  
Consumption Survey

AbstractThis paper studies the gender gap in net wealth. We use administrative data on wealth that are linked to the Estonian Household Finance and Consumption Survey, which provides individual-level wealth data for all household types. The unconditional gender gap in mean wealth is 45%, but this sizeable gap in means originates mainly from the top tail of the distribution, where men have much more wealth than women, while the gender differences in wealth are statistically insignificant in most of the lower wealth quintiles. At the top of the distribution the differences in wealth can be explained by larger self-employment activity of men. Men have more business wealth than women do, and the gender wealth gap is the largest for this asset class. The gender wealth gaps across different household types are very heterogeneous. The unconditional gaps in wealth are strongly in favour of men throughout most of the wealth distribution for married couples. For single-member households, on the other hand, the raw gaps are in favour of women in the lower half of the wealth distribution. These raw gaps in opposite directions can mostly be explained by differences in the observed characteristics of men and women among married couples vs single people.

scholarly journals Micro- and Macrodata: a Comparison of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey with Financial Accounts in Austria

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Michael Andreasch ◽  
Peter Lindner
Keyword(s):  
Household Finance ◽  
Portfolio Allocation ◽  
Financial Assets ◽  
National Accounts ◽  
Administrative Records ◽  
Statistical Measures ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Consumption Survey

Abstract This article compares the results of Austria’s Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) on savings deposits and estimates on total financial assets with administrative records from the national accounts for the household sector. The microdata that are newly generated through the HFCS and the detailed (internally available) breakdown of savings deposits in the existing macrodata (financial accounts) lend themselves to a more in-depth analysis of the similarities and differences in these two sources. Comparing the data shows that the HFCSbased aggregate estimates are lower than the financial accounts data, which is in line with evidence from the literature. The article also shows, however, that the survey adequately captures the underlying patterns at the microlevel in terms of the overall financial portfolio allocation and the distribution of savings deposits over detailed breakdowns. Moreover, a simulation based on the HFCS data demonstrates the effect that the inclusion of savings deposits in the most affluent tail of the distribution has on common statistics. Undercoverage above all of the upper deposit ranges suggests an underestimation or bias in the statistics. This underestimation, however, can be shown to be relatively minor, particularly in the case of robust statistical measures, such as the median or percentile ratios.

scholarly journals Looking for the missing rich: tracing the top tail of the wealth distribution

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1234-1258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Bach ◽  
Andreas Thiemann ◽  
Aline Zucco
Keyword(s):  
Pareto Distribution ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Household Finance ◽  
Household Surveys ◽  
Consumption Survey

AbstractWe analyse the top tail of the wealth distribution in France, Germany, and Spain using the first and second waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). Since top wealth is likely to be under-represented in household surveys, we integrate big fortunes from rich lists, estimate a Pareto distribution, and impute the missing rich. In addition to the Forbes list, we rely on national rich lists since they represent a broader base of the big fortunes in those countries. As a result, the top 1% wealth share increases notably for the three selected countries after imputing the top wealth. We find that national rich lists can improve the estimation of the Pareto coefficient in particular when the list of national USD billionaires is short.

scholarly journals Estimating the Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. 646-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Household Finance ◽  
Consumption Survey

This paper uses the Household Finance and Consumption Survey to construct new estimates of top wealth shares in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Finland and The Netherlands. It provides a methodology to address simultaneously non-response and underreporting in wealth surveys.

scholarly journals How Do Households Allocate Their Assets? Stylised Facts from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Arrondel ◽  
Laura Bartiloro ◽  
Pirmin Fessler ◽  
Peter Lindner ◽  
Thomas Y. Mathh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Household Finance ◽  
Consumption Survey

But what about that nice house you own? The impact of asset tests in minimum income schemes in Europe: An empirical exploration

2020 ◽  
pp. 095892872097013
Author(s):  
Sarah Marchal ◽  
Sarah Kuypers ◽  
Ive Marx ◽  
Gerlinde Verbist
Keyword(s):  
Household Finance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Microsimulation Model ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Consumption Survey ◽  
European Welfare States

Means-tested transfer schemes in Europe and elsewhere tend to include not only income tests but also asset tests of various sorts. The role of asset tests in minimum income protection provisions has been extensively researched in the Anglo-Saxon context. Far fewer authors have assessed the role of asset tests on social policy in a continental European context. Although asset tests may be useful in singling out the more deserving of the poor, we know relatively little of their actual impact on eligibility and social outcomes in European welfare states. This paper looks at the prevalence and design of asset tests in European minimum income protection schemes. We distinguish between two main types of asset tests: outright disqualification when assets reach a certain value, versus a more gradual tapering at a fictional rate of return. We then analyse in greater detail how asset tests in Belgium and Germany, as representatives of these two types, affect minimum income protection eligibility and poverty outcomes. We use the EUROMOD microsimulation model on the Household Finance and Consumption Survey data in order to assess the effects of asset tests. This survey was explicitly designed to more realistically reflect assets and capital incomes.

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