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Wealth Inequality in Sweden: What Can We Learn from Capitalized Income Tax Data?

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  • Lundberg, Jacob

    (Uppsala University)

  • Waldenström, Daniel

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Stockholm)

Abstract

This paper presents new estimates of wealth inequality in Sweden during 2000–2012, linking wealth register data up to 2007 and individually capitalized wealth based on income and property tax registers for the period thereafter when a repeal of the wealth tax stopped the collection of individual wealth statistics. We find that wealth inequality increased after 2007 and that more unequal bank holdings and apartment ownership appear to be important drivers. We also evaluate the performance of the capitalization method by contrasting its estimates and their dispersion with observed stocks in register data up to 2007. The goodness-of-fit varies tremendously across assets and we conclude that although capitalized wealth estimates may well approximate overall inequality levels and trends, they are highly sensitive to assumptions and the quality of the underlying data sources.

Suggested Citation

  • Lundberg, Jacob & Waldenström, Daniel, 2016. "Wealth Inequality in Sweden: What Can We Learn from Capitalized Income Tax Data?," IZA Discussion Papers 9902, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9902
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    Cited by:

    1. Elinder, Mikael & Erixson, Oscar & Waldenström, Daniel, 2018. "Inheritance and wealth inequality: Evidence from population registers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 17-30.
    2. Thilo N H Albers & Charlotte Bartels & Moritz Schularick, 2022. "Wealth and its Distribution in Germany, 1895-2018," Working Papers halshs-03828863, HAL.
    3. Lucas Chancel, 2019. "Ten facts about income inequality in advanced economies," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02876982, HAL.
    4. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2019. "Salience of Inherited Wealth and the Support for Inheritance Taxation," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02877003, HAL.
    5. Andersen, Torben M. & Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Grodecka-Messi, Anna & Mann, Katja, 2022. "Pension reform and wealth inequality: evidence from Denmark," Working Paper Series 411, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    6. William H. Beaver & Stefano Cascino & Maria Correia & Maureen F. McNichols, 2019. "Group Affiliation and Default Prediction," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3559-3584, August.
    7. Liao, Yu & Zhang, Junfu, 2021. "Hukou status, housing tenure choice and wealth accumulation in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Daniel Waldenström, 2021. "Wealth and History: An Update," CESifo Working Paper Series 9366, CESifo.
    9. Benjamin Ching & Tayla Forward & Oscar Parkyn, 2023. "Estimating the Distribution of Wealth in New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 23/01, New Zealand Treasury.
    10. Bali, Turan G. & Gunaydin, A. Doruk & Jansson, Thomas & Karabulut, Yigitcan, 2023. "Do the rich gamble in the stock market? Low risk anomalies and wealthy households," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(2).
    11. Jaanika Meriküll & Tairi Rõõm, 2022. "Are survey data underestimating the inequality of wealth?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 339-374, February.
    12. Holmberg, Johan & Simmons, Michael & Trapeznikova, Ija, 2024. "Parental Wealth and Early Labor Market Outcomes," Umeå Economic Studies 1029, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    13. James B. Davies & Rodrigo Lluberas & Daniel Waldenström & James Davies, 2024. "Long-Term Trends in the Distribution of Wealth and Inheritance," CESifo Working Paper Series 11183, CESifo.
    14. Cem Baslevent, 2018. "Household Asset Inequality in Turkey: How Informative is the Survey of Income and Living Conditions?," Working Papers 1181, Economic Research Forum, revised 12 Apr 2018.
    15. Thilo N. H. Albers & Charlotte Bartels & Moritz Schularick, 2020. "The Distribution of Wealth in Germany, 1895-2018," ECONtribute Policy Brief Series 001, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    16. Petar Peshev, 2023. "Estimation of the Value, Distribution and Concentration of Wealth in Bulgaria, 1995-2020," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 3, pages 104-129.
    17. Shubin Wang & Junsheng Ha & Hakan Kalkavan & Serhat Yüksel & Hasan Dinçer, 2020. "IT2-Based Hybrid Approach for Sustainable Economic Equality: A Case of E7 Economies," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, May.
    18. Björklund, Anders & Waldenström, Daniel, 2021. "Facts and Myths in the Popular Debate about Inequality in Sweden," Working Paper Series 1392, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    19. Daniel Waldenström, 2018. "Inheritance and Wealth Taxation in Sweden," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 16(02), pages 08-12, August.
    20. Waldenström, Daniel, 2021. "Wealth and History: An Update," Working Paper Series 1411, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    21. Arizo Karimi & Charlotte Lucke & Mårten Palme, 2024. "Components of the evolution of income inequality in Sweden, 1990–2021," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(2), pages 187-204, June.
    22. Bertrand Garbinti & Jonathan Goupille-Lebret & Thomas Piketty, 2021. "Accounting for Wealth-Inequality Dynamics: Methods, Estimates, and Simulations for France," Post-Print hal-03474044, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gini co-efficient; wealth distribution; capitalization method; investment income method; top wealth shares; Great Recession;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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