IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17324.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Wealth Creators or Inheritors? Unpacking the Gender Wealth Gap from Bottom to Top and Young to Old

Author

Listed:
  • Bartels, Charlotte

    (DIW Berlin)

  • Sierminska, Eva

    (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER))

  • Schröder, Carsten

    (DIW Berlin)

Abstract

There is growing interest in understanding how gender influences the accumulation of wealth. While prior studies focused on labor-related determinants, our research focuses on inheritances and gifts. Using unique survey data that oversamples the top 1% of wealth holders in Germany, we show that the gender wealth gap is small for individuals up to age 40, then widens, and declines for those past retirement age. Transfer amounts and their timing are important drivers of these differences: men tend to inherit larger sums than women during their working life. Women often outlive their male partners, thus receiving larger inheritances at older ages.

Suggested Citation

  • Bartels, Charlotte & Sierminska, Eva & Schröder, Carsten, 2024. "Wealth Creators or Inheritors? Unpacking the Gender Wealth Gap from Bottom to Top and Young to Old," IZA Discussion Papers 17324, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17324
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17324.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    3. Òscar Jordà & Katharina Knoll & Dmitry Kuvshinov & Moritz Schularick & Alan M Taylor, 2019. "The Rate of Return on Everything, 1870–2015," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1225-1298.
    4. Lena Edlund & Wojciech Kopczuk, 2009. "Women, Wealth, and Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 146-178, March.
    5. 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.
    6. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    7. Lena Edlund & Wojciech Kopczuk, 2009. "Corrigendum: Women, Wealth, and Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 1082-1082, June.
    8. Eva M. Sierminska & Joachim R. Frick & Markus M. Grabka, 2010. "Examining the gender wealth gap," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 62(4), pages 669-690, October.
    9. Arash Nekoei & David Seim, 2023. "How Do Inheritances Shape Wealth Inequality? Theory and Evidence from Sweden," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(1), pages 463-498.
    10. Sergio Firpo & Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Unconditional Quantile Regressions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 953-973, May.
    11. Falk, Armin & Hermle, Johannes, 2018. "Relationship of Gender Differences in Preferences to Economic Development and Gender Equality," IZA Discussion Papers 12059, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. 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.
    13. Claudia Goldin, 2014. "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1091-1119, April.
    14. Jaanika Meriküll & Merike Kukk & Tairi Rõõm, 2021. "Correction: What explains the gender gap in wealth? Evidence from administrative data," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 549-550, June.
    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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).
    5. Javier Olivera & Yadiraah Iparraguirre, 2022. "The Gender Gap in Pension Savings: Evidence from Peru's Individual Capitalization System," LISER Working Paper Series 2022-06, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    6. Marc Fleurbaey & Domenico Moramarco & Vito Peragine, "undated". "Measuring inequality and welfare when some inequalities matter more than others," Working Papers ecineq-, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    7. Maria Coelho & Aieshwarya Davis & Alexander Klemm & Carolina Osorio-Buitron, 2024. "Gendered taxes: the interaction of tax policy with gender equality," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(5), pages 1413-1460, October.
    8. Merike Kukk & Jaanika Meriküll & Tairi Rõõm, 2023. "The Gender Wealth Gap in Europe: Application of Machine Learning to Predict Individual‐level Wealth," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(2), pages 289-317, June.
    9. Javier Olivera & Yadiraah Iparraguirre, 2022. "The Gender Gap in Pension Savings," Working Papers 624, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    10. Javier Olivera & Yadiraah Iparraguirre, 2022. "Gender gap in pension savings: Evidence from Peru’s individual capitalization system∗," Documentos de Trabajo / Working Papers 2022-513, Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
    11. Philipp M. Lersch & Emanuela Struffolino & Agnese Vitali, 2022. "Wealth in Couples: Introduction to the Special Issue," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(4), pages 623-641, October.
    12. Fortin, Nicole M. & Bell, Brian & Böhm, Michael, 2017. "Top earnings inequality and the gender pay gap: Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 107-123.
    13. LoRiggio, Tessa & Morris, Todd, 2024. "The Gender Wealth Gap near Retirement in Canada," IZA Policy Papers 207, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Joanna Tyrowicz & Lucas van der Velde, 2017. "When the opportunity knocks: large structural shocks and gender wage gaps," GRAPE Working Papers 2, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    15. Sergio Longobardi & Margherita Maria Pagliuca & Andrea Regoli, 2018. "Can problem-solving attitudes explain the gender gap in financial literacy? Evidence from Italian students’ data," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1677-1705, July.
    16. Sologon, Denisa Maria & Doorley, Karina & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Peluso, Eugenio, 2024. "The Gendered Nature of the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 16820, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Ana Fernandes & Martin Huber & Giannina Vaccaro, 2021. "Gender differences in wage expectations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-24, June.
    18. Anglade, Boaz & Useche, Pilar & Deere, Carmen Diana, 2017. "Decomposing the Gender Wealth Gap in Ecuador," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 19-31.
    19. Grohmann, Antonia & Hübler, Olaf & Kouwenberg, Roy & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2021. "Financial literacy: Thai middle-class women do not lag behind," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    20. Nathan Blascak & Anna Tranfaglia, 2021. "Decomposing Gender Differences in Bankcard Credit Limits," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-072, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    wealth accumulation; wealth inequality; gender wealth gap; inheritances; gender economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp17324. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.