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A Head‐to‐Head Comparison of Augmented Wealth in Germany and the United States *
Author(s) -
Bönke Timm,
Grabka Markus M.,
Schröder Carsten,
Wolff Edward N.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the scandinavian journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.725
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1467-9442
pISSN - 0347-0520
DOI - 10.1111/sjoe.12364
Subject(s) - gini coefficient , economics , national wealth , pension , wealth distribution , distribution (mathematics) , demographic economics , net worth , labour economics , inequality , macroeconomics , economic inequality , debt , finance , mathematical analysis , mathematics
We examine the composition of augmented household wealth (i.e., the sum of net worth and pension wealth) in the United States and Germany. Pension wealth makes up a considerable portion of household wealth, of about 48 percent in the United States and 61 percent in Germany. When pension wealth is included in household wealth, the Gini coefficient falls from 0.889 to 0.700 in the United States, and from 0.755 to 0.508 in Germany. If the wealth shares in Germany were the same as in the United States, this would lead to a 12.6 percent increase in the Gini coefficient in the augmented wealth distribution in Germany.