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The Distribution of Household Wealth in India

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  • Sreenivasan Subramanian
  • D. Jayaraj

Abstract

This paper reviews the principal source of India's wealth distribution statistics, which is constituted by the five decennial Reserve Bank of India National Sample Survey Organization Surveys on Debt and Investment of 1961-62, 1971-72, 1981-82, 1991-92, and 2002-03. The data available are described, critically appraised, and analyzed to present some salient findings in terms of the levels of debt, the levels of asset-holdings across the states of the Indian Union and over time, wealth composition, and aspects of vertical and horizontal inequality in the distribution of wealth.

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  • Sreenivasan Subramanian & D. Jayaraj, 2006. "The Distribution of Household Wealth in India," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-116, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:rp2006-116
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    Cited by:

    1. Rishabh Kumar, 2019. "The evolution of wealth-income ratios in India, 1860-2012," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02876998, HAL.
    2. Anoop S. Kumar & P. Yazir & G. G. Gopika, 2019. "Consumption Inequality In India After Liberalization: A Caste Based Assessment," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 64(01), pages 139-155, March.
    3. Aswini Kumar Mishra & Vedant Bhardwaj, 2021. "Wealth distribution and accounting for changes in wealth inequality: empirical evidence from India, 1991–2012," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 585-620, May.
    4. Swaminathan, Madhura & Nagbhushan, Shruti, 2022. "Wealth Inequality: Evidence from Two Villages in Bihar," Review of Agrarian Studies, Foundation for Agrarian Studies, vol. 12(1), June.
    5. Davies, James B. & Sandstrom, Susanna & Shorrocks, Anthony & Wolff, Edward N., 2006. "The World Distribution of Household Wealth," Conference papers 331490, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    6. Mishra, Aswini Kumar & Gupta, Akul & Bhardwaj, Vedant, 2022. "Permanent inequality versus earnings instability and transmission of income shocks to consumption expenditure in India," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 80-91.
    7. Zacharias, Ajit & Vakulabharanam, Vamsi, 2011. "Caste Stratification and Wealth Inequality in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1820-1833.
    8. K. J. Joseph & Liyan Zhang & Kiran Kumar Kakarlapudi, 2018. "The Dragon Turns around and the Elephant Moves Forward: Inequality in China and India under Globalization," Millennial Asia, , vol. 9(3), pages 235-261, December.
    9. Amy Y. C. Liu, 2009. "Inequality among the rural poor: A tale of two cities in India and Vietnam," International and Development Economics Working Papers idec09-04, International and Development Economics.
    10. D. Jayaraj & S. Subramanian, 2018. "The Distribution of Household Assets in India: 1991–1992 to 2012–2013," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 12(2), pages 181-203, August.
    11. Patrick Honohan, 2006. "Household Financial Assets in the Process of Development," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-91, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Saurabh & R. V. Ramanamurthy, 2023. "Employment status and wealth inequality between scheduled caste and other caste households in India," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 25(1), pages 1-16, June.
    13. Mr. S.Hirashima, 2009. "Growth-Poverty Linkage and Income-Asset Relation in Regional Disparity: Evidence from Pakistan and India (The Allama Iqbal Memorial Lecture)," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 48(4), pages 357-386.
    14. Ghosh, Saibal & Vinod, D., 2017. "What Constrains Financial Inclusion for Women? Evidence from Indian Micro data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 60-81.
    15. Azad, Rohit & Chakraborty, Shouvik, 2020. "Green Growth and the Right to Energy in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    16. Alistair Munro & Bereket Kebede & Marcela Tarazona-Gomez & Arjan Verschoor, 2013. "Autonomy and Efficiency: An Experiment on Household Decisions in Two Regions of India," NBER Chapters, in: Experiments for Development: Achievements and New Directions, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Swati Dutta & Lakshmi Kumar, 2016. "Is Poverty Stochastic or Structural in Nature? Evidence from Rural India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 957-979, September.
    18. Swati Dutta & Lakshmi Kumar, 2013. "Poverty Dynamics in Rural India: An Asset-Based Approach," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 7(4), pages 475-506, November.

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