Should asset testing be used in means-tested programs? These programs target low-income people, but low income can result not only from low productivity but also from low labor supply. We aim to show that in the asymmetric information environment, there is a positive role for asset testing. We...

This paper explores impacts of recessions on private pensions and retirement savings in Canada. We estimate that the 2008-09 recession saw declines in average family wealth and retirement assets of 11% and 14% respectively. Average wealth recovered by the end of 2010, but retirement assets...

We investigate economic inequalities of Japanese economy from 2004 to 2012 using the Keio household panel survey. We present cross-sectional dispersion earnings, consumption expenditure, and wealth inequalities from time-series and life cycle dimensions. Wage and hours inequalities, which are...

This paper studies the gender wealth gap using 2010 Household Finance and Consumption Survey data for 15 European countries, and finds that households with only one male adult have more net wealth than households with one female adult, and that households with an adult couple have the highest...

Using a model where households can save in either a safe asset or in an illiquid, tax-advantaged pension, we assess the extent to which those who recently reached the state pension age in the UK have saved optimally for retirement. The policy environment specified closely matches that prevailing...

This paper uses a matching method to provide an estimate of the nativity wealth gap among older households in Europe. This approach does not require imposing any functional form on wealth and avoids validity-out-of-the-support assumptions; furthermore, it allows not only the estimation of the...

This paper analyses the level of inequality in Spain and how it evolved over the course of the past crisis and the early stages of the current recovery. To this end, it first introduces the various dimensions of wage, income, consumption and wealth inequality, and studies how they have...

We characterize the distribution of permanent-income and quantify the value of assets and human capital in lifetime wealth portfolios. We estimate the distribution of human wealth using nonparametric identification results that allow for state-dependent stochastic discounting and unobserved...

A method to impute consumption expenditure inequality between wealth groups in the Survey of Consumer Finances is provided, allowing for measurement error that is correlated with income and wealth. Identification is derived from observing food at home and food away from home, which are relative...

This paper provides an introduction to the special issue of the Review of Economic Dynamics on "Cross Sectional Facts for Macroeconomists''. The issue documents, for nine countries, the level and the evolution, over time and over the life cycle, of several dimensions of economic inequality,...