The analyses of wealth inequality based on survey data usually suffer from undercoverage of the upper percentiles of the very wealthy. Yet given this group’s substantial share of total net worth, it is of particular relevance. As no tax data are available in Germany, the largest fortunes can...

Most of the available comparative empirical evidence on levels and trends in income inequalities and poverty in OECD countries relies on the concept of household disposable cash income, thus ignoring the services governments provide to households. Including those services matters a lot, however,...

New analyses of personal income distribution in Germany, based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), show that real market income in private households rose significantly from 2005 to 2010. An increase in real disposable income was also observed. At the same time, income...

According to current analyses based on the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), the total net assets of German households in 2012 amounted to 6.3 trillion euros. Almost 28 percent of the adult population had no or even negative net worth. On average, individual net worth in 2012 totaled more than...

New analyses of personal income distribution in Germany, based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), show that real market income in private households rose significantly from 2005 to 2010. An increase in real disposable income was also observed. At the same time, the...

Die Lebensläufe der deutschen Babyboomer (geboren zwischen 1956 und 1965) unterscheiden sich deutlich von denen vorangegangener Kohorten. Insgesamt zeigt sich eine zunehmende Vielfalt der Erwerbsverläufe. Insbesondere in Ostdeutschland sind diese von Brüchen geprägt, mit häufigeren oder...

New analyses of personal income distribution in Germany, based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), show that the disparity in income distribution decreased in Germany in the period 2006-2010. However, this decline comes to a halt in 2011. The most influential forces for...

Very nearly 25 years after the fall of the Wall, households in eastern Germany have average assets of 67,400 euros which is less than half of their counterparts in western Germany with average assets of 153,200 euros. In both parts of the country, real estate ownership is quantitatively the most...

Very nearly 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, households in eastern Germany have an average net worth of 67,400 euros which is less than half that of their counterparts in western Germany with an average net worth of 153,200 euros. In both parts of the country, real estate ownership is...

Analysis on wealth inequality based on survey data usually suffers from under-coverage of high-net-worth individuals. Especially this group of persons is of high relevance given their substantial share of the total net worth. As there is no tax data available in Germany, the largest fortunes can...