IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/compes/v66y2024i4d10.1057_s41294-023-00230-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Business Equity and Wealth Inequality in Central and Eastern Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Edison Jakurti

    (Leipzig University)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the contribution of business equity, housing wealth and the rest of net wealth, to wealth inequality in eight post-socialist countries. Using the third wave of Household Finance and Consumption Survey, we decompose wealth inequality by factor components and use bootstrapping to provide statistical inference. We find that business equity, accounting for over 50% of within-country inequality in most cases, significantly surpasses the contribution of housing wealth. We extend our analysis through a novel simulation approach, employing counterfactual scenarios, to assess variations in between-country inequality. We find that the greatest reduction in the wealth inequality between these countries would occur if business equity were distributed more equally.

Suggested Citation

  • Edison Jakurti, 2024. "Business Equity and Wealth Inequality in Central and Eastern Europe," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 66(4), pages 717-752, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:66:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1057_s41294-023-00230-w
    DOI: 10.1057/s41294-023-00230-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41294-023-00230-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41294-023-00230-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wolff, Edward N., 1994. "Trends in Household Wealth in the United States: 1962-1983 and 1983-1989," Working Papers 94-03, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    2. Pfeffer, Fabian T. & Waitkus, Nora, 2021. "The Wealth Inequality of Nations," SocArXiv 6msuf, Center for Open Science.
    3. Mitra, Pradeep & Yemtsov, Ruslan, 2006. "Increasing inequality in transition economies : is there more to come?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4007, The World Bank.
    4. Marco Cagetti & Mariacristina De Nardi, 2006. "Entrepreneurship, Frictions, and Wealth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(5), pages 835-870, October.
    5. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, 2015. "The Rise and Decline of General Laws of Capitalism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 3-28, Winter.
    6. Mariacristina De Nardi & Giulio Fella, 2017. "Saving and Wealth Inequality," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 26, pages 280-300, October.
    7. Thomas Piketty, 2015. "Putting Distribution Back at the Center of Economics: Reflections on Capital in the Twenty-First Century," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 67-88, Winter.
    8. Vincenzo Quadrini, 2000. "Entrepreneurship, Saving and Social Mobility," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(1), pages 1-40, January.
    9. Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick & Ulrike I. Steins, 2020. "Income and Wealth Inequality in America, 1949–2016," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(9), pages 3469-3519.
    10. Edward N. Wolff, 1983. "The Size Distribution Of Household Disposable Wealth In The United States," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 29(2), pages 125-146, June.
    11. Brzezinski, Michal & Sałach, Katarzyna, 2021. "Factors that account for the wealth inequality differences between post-socialist countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    12. Edward N. Wolff, 2016. "Deconstructing Household Wealth Trends in the United States, 1983 - 2013," NBER Working Papers 22704, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Peter Lindner, 2015. "Factor decomposition of the wealth distribution in the euro area," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(2), pages 291-322, May.
    14. Sergei Guriev & Andrei Rachinsky, 2006. "The Evolution of Personal Wealth in the Former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-120, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Edward N. Wolff, 1994. "Trends In Household Wealth In The United States, 1962–83 And 1983–89," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 40(2), pages 143-174, June.
    16. Michał Brzeziński & Katarzyna Sałach & Marcin Wroński, 2020. "Wealth inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: Evidence from household survey and rich lists’ data combined," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 637-660, October.
    17. Sebastian Leitner & Mario Holzner, 2008. "Economic Inequality in Central, East and Southeast Europe," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 5(1), pages 155-188.
    18. Philip Vermeulen, 2018. "How Fat is the Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 357-387, June.
    19. Ana Manero, 2017. "The limitations of negative incomes in the Gini coefficient decomposition by source," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(14), pages 977-981, August.
    20. Michal Brzezinski & Katarzyna Salach, 2022. "Determinants of inequality in transition countries," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 496-496, June.
    21. Radic, Mislav & Ravasi, Davide & Munir, Kamal, 2021. "Privatization: implications of a shift from state to private ownership," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108992, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    22. Vladimir Popov, 2000. "Shock Therapy Versus Gradualism: The End Of The Debate (Explaining The Magnitude Of Transformational Recession)," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 42(1), pages 1-57, April.
    23. Gentry William M. & Hubbard R. Glenn, 2004. "Entrepreneurship and Household Saving," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-57, August.
    24. Mills, Jeffrey A & Zandvakili, Sourushe, 1997. "Statistical Inference via Bootstrapping for Measures of Inequality," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 133-150, March-Apr.
    25. Biewen, Martin, 2002. "Bootstrap inference for inequality, mobility and poverty measurement," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 317-342, June.
    26. Saul Estrin & Jan Hanousek & Evzen Kocenda & Jan Svejnar, 2009. "The Effects of Privatization and Ownership in Transition Economies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(3), pages 699-728, September.
    27. Vincenzo Quadrini, 1999. "The Importance Of Entrepreneurship For Wealth Concentration And Mobility," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 45(1), pages 1-19, March.
    28. Herman W Hoen, 1996. "“Shock Versus Gradualism” in Central Europe Reconsidered," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 38(1), pages 1-20, April.
    29. Shorrocks, A F, 1982. "Inequality Decomposition by Factor Components," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 193-211, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Clemens, Christiane & Heinemann, Maik, 2010. "On entrepreneurial risk-taking and the macroeconomic effects of financial constraints," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1610-1626, September.
    2. Njangang, Henri & Beleck, Alim & Tadadjeu, Sosson & Kamguia, Brice, 2022. "Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    3. Henri Njangang & Alim Beleck & Sosson Tadadjeu & Brice Kamguia, 2021. "Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/057, African Governance and Development Institute..
    4. Jess Benhabib & Alberto Bisin, 2018. "Skewed Wealth Distributions: Theory and Empirics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1261-1291, December.
    5. Marco Cagetti & Mariacristina De Nardi, 2004. "Taxation, entrepreneurship, and wealth," Staff Report 340, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    6. Nguimkeu, Pierre, 2024. "Credit constraints and delayed entrepreneurship," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 156-180.
    7. Lixin Tang, 2020. "Entrepreneur Income Inequality, Aggregate Saving and the Gains from Trade," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 38, pages 273-295, October.
    8. Fasianos, Apostolos & Tsoukalis, Panos, 2023. "Decomposing wealth inequalities in the wake of the Greek debt crisis," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    9. Polbin, Andrey & Shumilov, Andrei, 2020. "Предпринимательство, Накопление Богатства И Ограничения Заимствования: Обзор Зарубежных Исследований [Entrepreneurship, wealth accumulation and borrowing constraints: Foreign research experience]," MPRA Paper 103675, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Sagiri Kitao, 2005. "Income taxation with uninsurable endowment and entrepreneurial investment risks," 2005 Meeting Papers 514, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Robert W. Fairlie & Harry A. Krashinsky, 2012. "Liquidity Constraints, Household Wealth, And Entrepreneurship Revisited," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 58(2), pages 279-306, June.
    12. Frank M. Fossen & Johannes König & Carsten Schröder, 2024. "Risk preference and entrepreneurial investment at the top of the wealth distribution," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 735-761, February.
    13. Marcello D’Amato & Christian Di Pietro & Marco M. Sorge, 2024. "Left and right: a tale of two tails of the wealth distribution," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 78(4), pages 1389-1433, December.
    14. Sagiri Kitao, 2008. "Entrepreneurship, taxation and capital investment," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(1), pages 44-69, January.
    15. Henri Njangang & Alim Beleck & Sosson Tadadjeu & Brice Kamguia, 2021. "Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis," Working Papers 21/057, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    16. Meh, Césaire A., 2008. "Business risk, credit constraints, and corporate taxation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 2971-3008, September.
    17. Casey J. Frid & David M. Wyman & Bentley Coffey, 2016. "Effects of wealth inequality on entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 895-920, December.
    18. Petar Peshev & Kristina Stefanova & Ivanina Mancheva, 2023. "Wealth Inequality Determinants in the EU Members from the CEE Region, 1995-2021," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 19-40.
    19. Brzezinski, Michal & Sałach, Katarzyna, 2021. "Factors that account for the wealth inequality differences between post-socialist countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    20. Pavel Brendler & Moritz Kuhn & Ulrike I. Steins, 2024. "To Have or Not to Have: Understanding Wealth Inequality," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 098, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business equity; Wealth inequality; Factor decomposition; Simulation analysis; Central and Eastern Europe (CEE);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:66:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1057_s41294-023-00230-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.