IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v50y2013i4p1155-1176.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining the Gender Wealth Gap

Author

Listed:
  • Erin Ruel
  • Robert Hauser

Abstract

To assess and explain the United States’ gender wealth gap, we use the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to examine wealth accumulated by a single cohort over 50 years by gender, by marital status, and limited to the respondents who are their family’s best financial reporters. We find large gender wealth gaps between currently married men and women, and between never-married men and women. The never-married accumulate less wealth than the currently married, and there is a marital disruption cost to wealth accumulation. The status-attainment model shows the most power in explaining gender wealth gaps between these groups explaining about one-third to one-half of the gap, followed by the human-capital explanation. In other words, a lifetime of lower earnings for women translates into greatly reduced wealth accumulation. After controlling for the full model, we find that a gender wealth gap remains between married men and women that we speculate may be related to gender differences in investment strategies and selection effects. Copyright Population Association of America 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Erin Ruel & Robert Hauser, 2013. "Explaining the Gender Wealth Gap," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(4), pages 1155-1176, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:50:y:2013:i:4:p:1155-1176
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-012-0182-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13524-012-0182-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-012-0182-0?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. Lucie Schmidt & Purvi Sevak, 2006. "Gender, Marriage, And Asset Accumulation In The United States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 139-166.
    2. Kapteyn, Arie & Alessie, Rob & Lusardi, Annamaria, 2005. "Explaining the wealth holdings of different cohorts: Productivity growth and Social Security," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1361-1391, July.
    3. Sierminska, Eva M. & Frick, Joachim R. & Grabka, Markus M., 2010. "Examining the gender wealth gap," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 62(4), pages 669-690.
    4. William G. Gale & John Karl Scholz, 1994. "Intergenerational Transfers and the Accumulation of Wealth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 145-160, Fall.
    5. Carmen Diana Deere & Cheryl Doss, 2006. "The Gender Asset Gap: What Do We Know And Why Does It Matter?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 1-50.
    6. Hurd, Michael D, 1999. "Anchoring and Acquiescence Bias in Measuring Assets in Household Surveys," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 19(1-3), pages 111-136, December.
    7. Alexis Yamokoski & Lisa Keister, 2006. "The Wealth Of Single Women: Marital Status And Parenthood In The Asset Accumulation Of Young Baby Boomers In The United States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 167-194.
    8. John Gibson & Trinh Le & Grant Scobie, 2006. "Household Bargaining Over Wealth And The Adequacy Of Women'S Retirement Incomes In New Zealand," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 221-246.
    9. Grinstein-Weiss, Michal & Hun Yeo, Yeong & Zhan, Min & Charles, Pajarita, 2008. "Asset holding and net worth among households with children: Differences by household type," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 62-78, January.
    10. Harish Chand & Li Gan, 2003. "The Effects of Bracketing in Wealth Estimation," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 49(2), pages 273-287, June.
    11. Sunden, Annika E & Surette, Brian J, 1998. "Gender Differences in the Allocation of Assets in Retirement Savings Plans," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 207-211, May.
    12. Blau Francine D & Kahn Lawrence M, 2007. "The Gender Pay Gap," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 4(4), pages 1-6, June.
    13. Melissa A. Hardy & Kim Shuey, 2000. "Pension Decisions in a Changing Economy," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 55(5), pages 271-277.
    14. Bernheim, B. Douglas & Garrett, Daniel M., 2003. "The effects of financial education in the workplace: evidence from a survey of households," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(7-8), pages 1487-1519, August.
    15. Willard Rodgers & Arland Thornton, 1985. "Changing patterns of first marriage in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 22(2), pages 265-279, May.
    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. GRABKA Markus & MARCUS Jan & SIERMINSKA Eva, 2013. "Wealth distribution within couples and financial decision making," LISER Working Paper Series 2013-02, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    2. Alyssa Schneebaum & Miriam Rehm & Katharina Mader & Patricia Klopf & Katarina Hollan, 2014. "The Gender Wealth Gap in Europe," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp186, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    3. Anglade, Boaz & Useche, Pilar & Deere, Carmen Diana, 2017. "Decomposing the Gender Wealth Gap in Ecuador," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 19-31.
    4. Markus Grabka & Jan Marcus & Eva Sierminska, 2015. "Wealth distribution within couples," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 459-486, September.
    5. Sierminska, Eva & Piazzalunga, Daniela & Grabka, Markus M., 2018. "Transitioning towards more equality? Wealth gender differences and the changing role of explanatory factors over time," GLO Discussion Paper Series 252, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Rehm, Miriam & Schneebaum, Alyssa & Schuster, Barbara, 2022. "Intra-couple wealth inequality: What's demographics got to do with it?," ifso working paper series 22, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socioeconomics (ifso).
    7. Miriam Rehm & Alyssa Schneebaum & Barbara Schuster, 2022. "Intra-Couple Wealth Inequality: What’s Socio-Demographics Got to Do with it?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(4), pages 681-720, October.
    8. Waitkus, Nora & Minkus, Lara, 2021. "Investigating the gender wealth gap across occupational classes," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108206, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Alyssa Schneebaum & Miriam Rehm & Katharina Mader & Katarina Hollan, 2018. "The Gender Wealth Gap Across European Countries," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 295-331, June.
    10. Siobhan Austen & Rachel Ong & Sherry Bawa & Therese Jefferson, 2015. "Exploring recent increases in the gender wealth gap among Australia’s single households," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(1), pages 3-28, March.
    11. Jonathan Vespa & Matthew Painter, 2011. "Cohabitation History, Marriage, and Wealth Accumulation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(3), pages 983-1004, August.
    12. Eva M. Sierminska & Joachim R. Frick & Markus M. Grabka, 2008. "Examining the Gender Wealth Gap in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 115, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    13. Duc Hong Vo & Phuong Doan Ho & Chi Minh Ho & Michael McAleer, 2019. "The Gender Wealth Gap by Household Head in Vietnam," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 23(3), pages 122-153, September.
    14. Philipp M. Lersch, 2017. "The Marriage Wealth Premium Revisited: Gender Disparities and Within-Individual Changes in Personal Wealth in Germany," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 961-983, June.
    15. Eva Sierminska & Sylwia Radomska, 2024. "Single Parents, Marital Status and “Wealth-Being""," LWS Working papers 47, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    16. Michelle Maroto, 2018. "Saving, Sharing, or Spending? The Wealth Consequences of Raising Children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2257-2282, December.
    17. Karla Cordova & Markus M. Grabka & Eva Sierminska, 2022. "Pension Wealth and the Gender Wealth Gap," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(4), pages 755-810, October.
    18. Julia Groiß & Alyssa Schneebaum & Barbara Schuster, 2018. "Vermögensunterschiede nach Geschlecht in Österreich," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 44(1), pages 45-72.
    19. Jaanika Meriküll & Merike Kukk & Tairi Rõõm, 2021. "What explains the gender gap in wealth? Evidence from administrative data," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 501-547, June.
    20. Carmen Diana Deere & Gina E. Alvarado & Jennifer Twyman, 2012. "Gender Inequality in Asset Ownership in Latin America: Female Owners vs Household Heads," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(2), pages 505-530, March.

    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:spr:demogr:v:50:y:2013:i:4:p:1155-1176. 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.springer.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.