Econometrica Vol. 91 No. 3 2023
Decomposing the Growth of Top Wealth Shares
Abstract
What drives the dynamics of top wealth inequality? To answer this question, I propose an accounting framework that decomposes the growth of the share of aggregate wealth owned by a top percentile into three terms: a within term, which is the average wealth growth of individuals initially in the top percentile relative to the economy; a between term, which accounts for individuals entering and exiting the top percentile due to changes in their relative wealth rankings; and a demography term, which accounts for individuals entering or exiting the top percentile due to death and population growth. I obtain closed‐form expressions for each term in a wide range of random growth models. Evidence from the Forbes 400 list suggests that the between term accounts for half of the recent rise in top wealth inequality.
- DOI
- 10.3982/ecta16755
- Volume
- 91
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 979-1024
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref