The Joint Distribution of Net Worth and Pension Wealth in Germany

authored by

Timm Bönke, Markus M. Grabka, Carsten Schröder, Edward N. Wolff, Lennard Zyska

Abstract

The research on wealth inequality has generally focused on real and financial assets, while giving little attention to pension wealth: the present value of future pension entitlements from public and company pension schemes. This is surprising given the important role pension plans play in guaranteeing material security and well-being for a majority of the population, and suggests that they should be accounted for in peoples’ wealth portfolios. Using novel data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we study the incidence, relevance, and distribution of individual pension wealth, net worth, and augmented wealth (the sum of the two) in Germany. Further, we investigate age-wealth profiles and differences between East and West Germany.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Public Finance

External Organisation(s)

Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin)
German Institute for Economic Research (DIW)
New York University (NYU)
Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

Type

Article

Journal

Review of Income and Wealth

Volume

65

Pages

834-871

No. of pages

38

ISSN

0034-6586

Publication date

15.10.2018

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Economics and Econometrics

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12371 (Access: Closed)