scholarly journals Social Security Wealth, Inequality, and Life-cycle Saving: An Update

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Sabelhaus ◽  
Alice Henriques Volz
Author(s):  
Gabor Kezdi ◽  
Margaret Lay ◽  
David Weir

We document changes in wealth inequality across American households with a member aged 55 or older, comparing data in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) with that in the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) between 1998 and 2016. We examine net wealth including housing, financial and nonfinancial assets and debt, without the cash value of insurances, DB pensions or Social Security wealth. We find very similar distributions of net wealth in the two surveys between the 25th and 90th percentiles, but substantially higher wealth in the SCF at the top of the distribution. Both surveys show an increase in wealth inequality between 1998 and 2016, first mostly due to increased wealth at the top, and, after 2012, due to an increase in the share of households with very little wealth as well. Both surveys agree that wealth inequality by education and race, already substantial in 1998, increased further by 2016.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document