If Piketty's main theoretical prediction (rg leads to rising wealth inequality) is taken to its radical conclusion, then a small elite will own all wealth if capitalism is left to its own devices. We formulate and calibrate a Post-Keynesian model with an endogenous distribution of wealth between...

This article studies the ratio of the rates of profit and growth, in a growing economy, as a function of the average productivity of capital. It is shown that, if the savings rate and also the distribution of income between wage and profit are constant, the ratio mentioned remains constant or...

Recent studies (Galor and Zeira (1993), Banerjee and Newman (1993)) argue that, because of capital market imperfections, income inequality leads to inefficiencies which impede economic growth. By contrast, Keynes believed that since the rich save at a higher rate than the poor, income inequality...

Data suggest the distribution of wealth among households in the United States and the United Kingdom has become more equal over the last century - though the pattern may have reversed recently. This paper shows that a model in which all households save for life-cycle reasons and some for...

We study the impact of a minimum consumption requirement on the rate of economic growth and the evolution of wealth distribution. The requirement introduces a positive dependence between the intertemporal elasticity of substitution and household wealth. This dependence implies a transition phase...

Wealth concentration in the U.S. has increased over the past 25 years across multiple methodologies for measuring wealth. But the reasons for the increase—and the timing of the increase—are quite different. In this note, we show that most available estimates are fairly consistent in level...

This chapter offers an overview of the empirical and theoretical research on the long-run evolution of wealth and inheritance. Wealth–income ratios, inherited wealth, and wealth inequalities were high in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries up until World War I, then sharply dropped during...