IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpma/0410008.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Wealth Distribution and the Demand for Status

Author

Listed:
  • Eric R. Young

    (University of Virginia)

Abstract

Standard economic theories of asset markets assume that assets are valued entirely for the consumption streams they can finance. This paper examines the introduction of the demand for status (as a function of wealth) into a model of uninsurable idiosyncratic risk. We find that spirit of capitalism preferences lead to less inequality in wealth and more in consumption. They also imply very different responses to a move from a progressive to a flat income tax; with spirit of capitalism preferences, wealth inequality goes down when the economy moves to a flat tax regime.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric R. Young, 2004. "The Wealth Distribution and the Demand for Status," Macroeconomics 0410008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpma:0410008
    Note: Type of Document - pdf
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/mac/papers/0410/0410008.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Turalay Kenc & Sel Dibooglu, 2003. "How does the spirit of capitalism affect stock market prices in a small-open economy," Computing in Economics and Finance 2003 196, Society for Computational Economics.
    2. Diaz, Antonia & Pijoan-Mas, Josep & Rios-Rull, Jose-Victor, 2003. "Precautionary savings and wealth distribution under habit formation preferences," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(6), pages 1257-1291, September.
    3. Gong, Liutang & Zou, Heng-fu, 2002. "Direct preferences for wealth, the risk premium puzzle, growth, and policy effectiveness," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 247-270, February.
    4. Piyabha Kongsamut & Sergio Rebelo & Danyang Xie, 2001. "Beyond Balanced Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(4), pages 869-882.
    5. Krusell, Per & Smith, Anthony A., 1997. "Income And Wealth Heterogeneity, Portfolio Choice, And Equilibrium Asset Returns," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(2), pages 387-422, June.
    6. Corneo, Giacomo, 2002. "The efficient side of progressive income taxation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1359-1368, July.
    7. Miao, Jianjun, 2006. "Competitive equilibria of economies with a continuum of consumers and aggregate shocks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 274-298, May.
    8. Smith, William T, 2001. "How Does the Spirit of Capitalism Affect Stock Market Prices?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(4), pages 1215-1232.
    9. S. Rao Aiyagari, 1994. "Uninsured Idiosyncratic Risk and Aggregate Saving," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(3), pages 659-684.
    10. Robson, Arthur J, 1992. "Status, the Distribution of Wealth, Private and Social Attitudes to Risk," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(4), pages 837-857, July.
    11. Conesa, Juan Carlos & Krueger, Dirk, 2006. "On the optimal progressivity of the income tax code," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 1425-1450, October.
    12. Young, Eric R., 2004. "Unemployment insurance and capital accumulation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 1683-1710, November.
    13. Hadar, Josef & Russell, William R, 1969. "Rules for Ordering Uncertain Prospects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 25-34, March.
    14. Zou, Heng-fu, 1994. "'The spirit of capitalism' and long-run growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 279-293, July.
    15. Bakshi, Gurdip S & Chen, Zhiwu, 1996. "The Spirit of Capitalism and Stock-Market Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 133-157, March.
    16. Gouveia, Miguel & Strauss, Robert P., 1994. "Effective Federal Individual Tax Functions: An Exploratory Empirical Analysis," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 47(2), pages 317-339, June.
    17. Christopher D. Carroll, 2000. "STATA code for Portfolios of the Rich," QM&RBC Codes 41, Quantitative Macroeconomics & Real Business Cycles.
    18. Javier Diaz-Gimenez & Vincenzo Quadrini & José-Víctor Ríos-Rull & Santiago Budria Rodriguez, 2002. "Updated facts on the U.S. distributions of earnings, income, and wealth," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 26(Sum), pages 2-35.
    19. Bill Dupor & Wen-Fang Liu, 2003. "Jealousy and Equilibrium Overconsumption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 423-428, March.
    20. Kjetil Storesletten & Chris I. Telmer & Amir Yaron, 2004. "Cyclical Dynamics in Idiosyncratic Labor Market Risk," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(3), pages 695-717, June.
    21. Timothy K. Chue, 2004. "The Spirit of Capitalism and International Risk Sharing," Econometric Society 2004 Far Eastern Meetings 589, Econometric Society.
    22. Rothschild, Michael & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1970. "Increasing risk: I. A definition," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 225-243, September.
    23. repec:cup:macdyn:v:1:y:1997:i:2:p:387-422 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Diaz, Antonia & Pijoan-Mas, Josep & Rios-Rull, Jose-Victor, 2003. "Precautionary savings and wealth distribution under habit formation preferences," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(6), pages 1257-1291, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Spyros Lazarakis & James Malley, 2019. "The Distributional Effects of Peer and Aspirational Pressure," Working Papers 419434468, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    2. Richard M. H. Suen, 2014. "Time Preference And The Distributions Of Wealth And Income," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 364-381, January.
    3. Yulei Luo & William T. Smith & Heng-Fu Zou, 2009. "The Spirit of Capitalism, Precautionary Savings, and Consumption," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(2-3), pages 543-554, March.
    4. Gaowang Wang & Heng-fu Zou, 2011. "Foreign Asset Accumulation, Macroeconomic Policies and Mercantilism," CEMA Working Papers 461, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    5. Francis, Johanna L., 2009. "Wealth and the capitalist spirit," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 394-408, September.
    6. Yulei Luo & William T. Smith & Heng-fu Zou, 2009. "The Spirit of Capitalism and Excess Smoothness," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 10(2), pages 281-301, November.
    7. Eric R. Young & Ponpoje Porapakkarm, 2008. "Information Heterogeneity in the Macroeconomy," 2008 Meeting Papers 67, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Wang, Gaowang & Zou, Heng-fu, 2020. "Optimal fiscal and monetary policy in economies with capital," MPRA Paper 102753, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. d’Albis, Hippolyte & Iliopulos, Eleni, 2013. "Collateral constraints and rental markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 436-439.
    10. Qichun He & Yulei Luo & Jun Nie & Heng-fu Zou, 2023. "Money, Growth, and Welfare in a Schumpeterian Model with the Spirit of Capitalism," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 47, pages 346-372, January.
    11. Acedański, Jan, 2017. "Heterogeneous expectations and the distribution of wealth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 162-175.
    12. Edoardo Di Porto & Enrica Maria Martino & Henry Ohlsson, 2021. "Avoiding taxes by transfers within the family," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(1), pages 1-23, February.
    13. Aristotelis Boukouras, 2016. "Capitalist Spirit and the Markets: Why Income Inequality Matters," Discussion Papers in Economics 16/16, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    14. Marco Airaudo, 2017. "Complex stock price dynamics under Max Weber’s spirit of capitalism hypothesis," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 64(1), pages 47-73, June.
    15. Li, Fanghui & Wang, Gaowang, 2019. "The Demand for Status and Optimal Capital Taxation," MPRA Paper 96076, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Li, Fanghui & Wang, Gaowang & Zou, Heng-fu, 2020. "The spirit of capitalism and optimal capital taxation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    17. Gaowang Wang & Heng-fu Zou, 2018. "The Effects of Macroeconomic Policies in a Mercantilist Economy," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 13(2), pages 171-195, June.
    18. Luo, Yulei & Gong, Liutang & Zou, Heng-fu, 2010. "A Note On Entrepreneurial Risk, Capital Market Imperfections, And Heterogeneity," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 269-284, April.
    19. Qichun He & Yulei Luo & Jun Nie & Heng-fu Zou, 2023. "Money, Growth, and Welfare in a Schumpeterian Model with the Spirit of Capitalism," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 47, pages 346-372, January.
    20. Tokuoka, Kiichi, 2012. "Is wealth accumulation a luxury good?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(3), pages 523-526.
    21. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00964867 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Spyridon Lazarakis & James Malley, 2019. "The distributional effects of peer and aspirational pressure," Working Papers 2019-06, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    23. Davoine, Thomas, 2012. "Time constraints, saving and old age," Economics Working Paper Series 1221, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    24. Suzuki, Tomoya, 2021. "Basic income, wealth inequality and welfare: A proposed case in New Zealand," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 118-128.

    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. Richard M. H. Suen, 2014. "Time Preference And The Distributions Of Wealth And Income," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 364-381, January.
    2. Julio Dávila & Jay H. Hong & Per Krusell & José‐Víctor Ríos‐Rull, 2012. "Constrained Efficiency in the Neoclassical Growth Model With Uninsurable Idiosyncratic Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(6), pages 2431-2467, November.
    3. Josep Pijoan-Mas, 2007. "Pricing Risk in Economies with Heterogeneous Agents and Incomplete Markets," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 5(5), pages 987-1015, September.
    4. José Victor Rios-Rull, 2002. "Desigualdad, ¿qué sabemos?," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 26(2), pages 221-254, May.
    5. Cagetti, Marco & De Nardi, Mariacristina, 2008. "Wealth Inequality: Data And Models," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(S2), pages 285-313, September.
    6. Eric R. Young & Ponpoje Porapakkarm, 2008. "Information Heterogeneity in the Macroeconomy," 2008 Meeting Papers 67, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Yulei Luo & Jun Nie & Heng-fu Zou, 2021. "Wealth in the Utility Function and Consumption Inequality," Research Working Paper RWP 21-17, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    8. Anagnostopoulos, Alexis & Cárceles-Poveda, Eva & Lin, Danmo, 2012. "Dividend and capital gains taxation under incomplete markets," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(7), pages 599-611.
    9. Yulei Luo & William T. Smith & Heng-fu Zou, 2009. "The Spirit of Capitalism and Excess Smoothness," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 10(2), pages 281-301, November.
    10. Marco Airaudo, 2017. "Complex stock price dynamics under Max Weber’s spirit of capitalism hypothesis," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 64(1), pages 47-73, June.
    11. Jonathan Heathcote & Kjetil Storesletten & Giovanni L. Violante, 2009. "Quantitative Macroeconomics with Heterogeneous Households," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 319-354, May.
    12. Josep Pijoan-Mas, 2006. "Precautionary Savings or Working Longer Hours?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 9(2), pages 326-352, April.
    13. Eva Carceles Poveda & Arpad Abraham, 2009. "Tax Reform with Endogenous Borrowing Limits and Incomplete Asset Markets," 2009 Meeting Papers 1196, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Javier Díaz-Giménez & Josep Pijoan-Mas, 2006. "Flat Tax Reforms in the U.S.: A Boon for the Income Poor," Working Papers wp2006_0611, CEMFI.
    15. Francis, Johanna L., 2009. "Wealth and the capitalist spirit," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 394-408, September.
    16. Liutang Gong & William Smith & Heng-fu Zou, 2007. "Asset Prices and Hyperbolic Discounting," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 8(2), pages 397-414, November.
    17. Liutang Gong & Yulei Luo & Heng-fu Zou, 2009. "Social Status, the Spirit of Capitalism, and the Term Structure of Interest Rates in Stochastic Production Economies," CEMA Working Papers 372, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    18. Ruediger Bachmann & Jinhui Bai & Minjoon Lee & Fudong Zhang, 2020. "The Welfare and Distributional Effects of Fiscal Volatility: a Quantitative Evaluation," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 38, pages 127-153, October.
    19. Qiang Zhang, 2006. "The Spirit of Capitalism and Asset Pricing: an Empirical Investigation (Subsequently published in "The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics (Topics in Macroeconomics)", 2006, Vol. 6, Issue 3, Arti," CARF F-Series CARF-F-069, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    20. Huo, Zhen, 2016. "Financial Frictions, Asset Prices, and the Great Recession," CEPR Discussion Papers 11544, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics

    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:wpa:wuwpma:0410008. 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: EconWPA (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de .

    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.