Wealth Inequality and Accumulation

2017/05/10 by Alexandra Killewald, Fabian T. Pfeffer, Jared N. Schachner +1 · 11 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Economic theories and models #Income, Poverty, and Inequality #Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-060116-053331

openalex publication_date 2017/05/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

Research on wealth inequality and accumulation and the data upon which it relies have expanded substantially in the twenty-first century. While the field has experienced rapid growth, conceptual and methodological challenges remain. We begin by discussing two major unresolved methodological concerns facing wealth research: how to address challenges to causal inference posed by wealth's cumulative nature and how to operationalize net worth, given its highly skewed nature. To underscore the need for continued empirical attention to net worth, we review trends in wealth levels and inequality and evaluate wealth's distinctiveness as an indicator of social stratification. Next, we provide an overview of data sources available for wealth research. We then review recent empirical evidence on the effects of wealth on other social outcomes, as well as research on the determinants of wealth. We close with a list of promising avenues for future research on wealth, its causes, and its consequences.

Citations

• LIQUIDITY CONSTRAINTS, HOUSEHOLD WEALTH, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP REVISITED
• Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data *
• A Theorem on the Manipulability of Redundant Serial Kinematic Chains
• Extended-family resources and racial inequality in the transition to homeownership
• Top Wealth Shares in the United States, 1916–2000: Evidence from Estate Tax Returns
• Small Business Loan Turndowns, Personal Wealth, and Discrimination*

Cited by

• Employment stability and social origin: Cumulative advantages in young adults’ homeownership and financial asset accumulation
• From Flux to Capital: Distinguishing Patterns of Income and Wealth Segregation in the Netherlands
• Does urban housing demolition increase wealth inequality in China?
• Assessing grand narratives of economic inequality across time
• Gender and wealth accumulation: an international perspective
• The educational wealth divide in Europe: Post-secondary enrollment gaps across parental wealth components and countries
• The impacts of neighborhood earnings and wealth profiles on families’ residential selections
• The shift to stock-based compensation and gender inequality in wealth in the United States
• A cohabitation wealth premium for women and men: considering the regulatory framework and normative acceptance in France and Germany
• Wealth and Income Stratification by Social Class in Five European Countries
• The wealth returns to a unionized career

Related

• Economic Elites, Investments, and Income Inequality
• Should social insurance programs count as wealth? Augmented wealth in research and policy
• Determinants of Wealth Fluctuation: Changes in Hard-To-Measure Economic Variables in a Panel Study
• The Wealth Inequality of Nations
• Measuring the Level and Inequality of Wealth: An Application to China