RIEB Discussion Paper Series No.2024-31

Title

The Impact of Intergenerational Transfers on the Distribution of Wealth: An International Comparison

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze detailed data on intergenerational transfers in 4 countries (China, India, Japan, and the United States) from the "Japan Household Panel Survey on Consumer Preferences and Satisfaction (JHPS-CPS)" which has been conducted by the Institute of Social and Economic Research of Osaka University in these 4 countries since 2003, in order to shed light on the impact of intergenerational transfers on household wealth disparities and on possible reasons for the substantial differences in household wealth disparities among the 4 countries. Almost all of the evidence I present suggests that intergenerational transfers have a disequalizing impact on household wealth disparities and promote the transmission of household wealth disparities from generation to generation in all 4 countries although the magnitude of these effects varies considerably from country to country. Moreover, the evidence I present sheds considerable light on possible reasons for the substantial differences in household wealth disparities among the 4 countries.

Keywords

Bequests; Estates; Household wealth; Inheritances; Inter vivos transfers; Intergenerational mobility; Intergenerational transfers; Wealth disparities; Wealth distribution; Wealth inequality; China; India; Japan; United States

JEL Classification

D12, D31, D64, E21, E24, J16

Inquiries

Charles Yuji HORIOKA
Center for Computational Social Science and Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration,
Kobe University
Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe
657-8501 Japan
Phone: +81-78-803-7036
FAX: +81-78-803-7059
Asian Growth Research Institute
Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
National Bureau of Economic Research