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The Structure and Distribution of Household Wealth in Australia
Author(s) -
Headey Bruce,
Marks Gary,
Wooden Mark
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
australian economic review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-8462
pISSN - 0004-9018
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8462.2005.00363.x
Subject(s) - marital status , distribution (mathematics) , household income , consumption (sociology) , wealth distribution , economics , demographic economics , alcohol consumption , socioeconomics , labour economics , geography , demography , inequality , sociology , population , alcohol , mathematical analysis , social science , biochemistry , chemistry , mathematics , archaeology
This article uses data from the second wave of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (or HILDA) Survey to provide an overview of the structure and distribution of household wealth in Australia. The data confirm that wealth is very unequally distributed, with the bottom half of the distribution owning less than 10 per cent of total household net worth, while the wealthiest 10 per cent account for 45 per cent. The article also includes an analysis of the factors associated with household wealth that indicates that wealth is significantly related to a range of factors including age, country of birth, parental occupational status, education, marital status, working hours, income, self‐reported savings behaviour, a willingness to take risks and even various lifestyle behaviours, such as smoking and alcohol consumption.