03029oam 22004573a 450 991071472980332120230622022615.0(NBER)w16840(CKB)3240000000011219(OCoLC)1154653502(EXLCZ)99324000000001121920230622d2011 fy 0engurcnu||||||||txtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrierInheritances and the Distribution of Wealth or Whatever Happened to the Great Inheritance Boom? Results from the SCF and PSID /Edward N. Wolff, Maury GittlemanCambridge, MassNational Bureau of Economic Research2011Washington, DC :U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Compensation and Working Conditions,2011.1 online resourceillustrations (black and white);NBER working paper seriesno. w16840February 2011.Includes bibliographical references (pages 26-28).Using data from both the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we found that on average over the period from 1984 to 2007, about one fifth of American households at a given point of time received a wealth transfer and these accounted for about a quarter of their net worth. Over the lifetime, about 30 percent of households could expect to receive a wealth transfer and these would account for close to 40 percent of their net worth near time of death. However, there is little evidence of an inheritance "boom." In fact, from 1989 to 2007, the share of households in the SCF reporting a wealth transfer fell by 2.5 percentage points. The average value of inheritances received among all households did increase but at a slow pace, by 10 percent, but wealth transfers as a proportion of current net worth fell sharply over this period, from 29 to 19 percent. We also found, somewhat surprisingly, that inheritances and other wealth transfers tend to be equalizing in terms of the distribution of household wealth. Indeed, the addition of wealth transfers to other sources of household wealth has had a sizeable effect on reducing the inequality of wealth.Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research)no. w16840.Personal Income, Wealth, and Their DistributionsjelcDemographic EconomicsjelcPersonal Income, Wealth, and Their DistributionsDemographic EconomicsD31jelcJ1jelcWolff Edward N123319Gittleman Maury1364911National Bureau of Economic Research.MaCbNBERMaCbNBERBOOK9910714729803321Inheritances and the Distribution of Wealth or Whatever Happened to the Great Inheritance Boom? Results from the SCF and PSID3386436UNINA