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Looking for the Missing Rich: Tracing the Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution

Referierte Aufsätze Web of Science

Stefan Bach, Andreas Thiemann, Aline Zucco

In: International Tax and Public Finance 26 (2019), 6, S. 1234-1258

Abstract

We analyse the top tail of the wealth distribution in France, Germany, and Spain using the first and second waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). Since top wealth is likely to be under-represented in household surveys, we integrate big fortunes from rich lists, estimate a Pareto distribution, and impute the missing rich. In addition to the Forbes list, we rely on national rich lists since they represent a broader base of the big fortunes in those countries. As a result, the top 1% wealth share increases notably for the three selected countries after imputing the top wealth. We find that national rich lists can improve the estimation of the Pareto coefficient in particular when the list of national USD billionaires is short.

Stefan Bach

Research Associate in the Public Economics Department



JEL-Classification: D31;C46;C81
Keywords: Wealth distribution, Missing rich, Pareto distribution, HFCS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10797-019-09578-1

Frei zugängliche Version: (econstor)
http://hdl.handle.net/10419/215786

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