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Wealth Inequality and Homeownership in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Leo Kaas

    (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany)

  • Georgi Kocharkov

    (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany)

  • Edgar Preugschat

    (Technical University Dortmund, Germany)

Abstract

The recently published Household Finance and Consumption Survey has revealed large differences in wealth inequality between the countries of the Euro area. We find a strong negative correlation between wealth inequality and homeownership rates across countries. We use two decomposition methods to shed more light on this correlation. First, a Gini decomposition by homeownership status shows that the negative relationship is mostly driven by large between-group inequality across owners and renters. Second, to control for other observables, we conduct a detailed counterfactual decomposition of cross-country inequality differences. We confirm the major role for homeownership rates in accounting for the wealth inequality differences. Our analysis suggests that the cross-country variation is mostly driven by differences in the savings behavior of households in the bottom half of the wealth distribution and that those differences in savings are to a large extent channeled through housing wealth.

Suggested Citation

  • Leo Kaas & Georgi Kocharkov & Edgar Preugschat, 2015. "Wealth Inequality and Homeownership in Europe," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2015-18, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    • Handle: RePEc:knz:dpteco:1518
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wealth Inequality; Homeownership; Housing; Euro Area;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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