The paper considers the process of discovery for subsoil resources, including both hard minerals and hydrocarbons and estimates its magnitude in recent years, as derived from the sum of extraction and changes in proven reserves. Spurred on by technology change and strong market conditions,...

Countries face both challenges and opportunities in using their extractive industries to achieve more inclusive development - particularly in the developing world. Yet while a large national income can result from resource wealth, it can also be associated with acute social inequality and deep...

This paper investigates the effect of private pensions on the retirement wealth distribution. The model incorporates stochastic private pension coverage into a lifecycle model with stochastic earnings. The predictions of the calibrated model are compared to the distribution of retirement net...

This paper extends the VECM cointegration model and PT (permanent-transitory) variance decomposition framework proposed by Lettau & Ludvigson (2004) and applies them on the Swedish data spanning from 1980q1 to 2004q4. There are strong statistical evidences that the movements of aggregate...

This paper reconciles neoclassical models of economic growth (Solow) with the formation of social classes during economic transition (Marx). An environment with missing capital markets and no labor divisibility is shown to lead to a steady state with no aggregate inefficiencies, but a very...

This paper studies the determinants of inequality in an infnitehorizon general equilibrium model. Missing capital markets decreases motivations for capital accumulation among the poor, while uncertainty about future income leads to precautionary savings. The different returns to saving faced by...

This paper finds that individuals in Japan do not leave very significant bequests, that parents often require a quid pro quo for bequests to their children, and that wealthier individuals leave less bequests, meaning that bequests ameliorate wealth inequalities.

Das private Immobilienvermögen in Deutschland verdoppelte sich in den vergangenen 20 Jahren auf 6 Billionen Euro. Mit gut der Hälfte am Privatvermögen stellt es weiterhin die wichtigste Anlageklasse dar. Das Immobilienvermögen ist analog zu anderen Vermögenspositionen ungleich zwischen...

To help shed light on the implications of intergenerational transfers for wealth inequality, this paper uses data for Japan and the United States to examine whether individuals who receive intergenerational transfers from their parents are more likely to leave bequests to their children than...

Much of the macroeconomics literature dealing with wealth distribution has become abstracted from modeling housing explicitly. This paper investigates the properties of the wealth distribution and the portfolio composition regarding housing and equity holdings and their relationship to...