Discussion Papers no. 583
The impact of age adjustments on the wealth inequality ranking of countries
Older or wealthier?
Differences in individual wealth holdings are widely viewed as a driving force of economic inequality. However, as this finding relies on cross-section data, we may confuse older with wealthier. We propose a new method to adjust for age effects in cross-sections, which eliminates transitory wealth inequality due to age, yet preserves inequality arising from other factors. This new method is superior to existing methods, like the much used Paglin-Gini, which is shown to have several problems. A new cross-country comparable database reveals that the choice of method is empirically important: Existing methods yield erroneous wealth inequality rankings of countries.
Om publikasjonen
- Tittel
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Older or wealthier?. The impact of age adjustments on the wealth inequality ranking of countries
- Ansvarlige
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Ingvild Almås, Magne Mogstad
- Serie og -nummer
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Discussion Papers no. 583
- Utgiver
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Statistics Norway
- Emne
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Discussion Papers
- Antall sider
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25, [14]
- Målform
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Engelsk
- Om Discussion Papers
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Discussion papers comprise research papers intended for international journals and books. A preprint of a Discussion Paper may be longer and more elaborate than a standard journal article as it may include intermediate calculations, background material etc.
Kontakt
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