10.17889/E110630
Luo, Mi
Benhabib, Jess
Bisin, Alberto
Replication data for: Earnings Inequality and Other Determinants of Wealth Inequality
ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
2017
10.1257/aer.p20171005
10.1257/aer.p20171005
V0
We study the relation between the distribution of labor earnings and the distribution of wealth. We show, theoretically as well as empirically, that while labor earnings and precautionary savings are important determinants of wealth inequality factors, they cannot by themselves account for the thick tail of (the large top shares in) the observed distribution of wealth. Other determinants, like stochastic returns to wealth, as well as savings rates and rates of returns increasing in wealth, need to be accounted for.