The Impact of Inheritance on the Distribution of Wealth: Evidence from Great Britain

Using the British Household Panel Survey, we investigate the role of inheritance in shaping the distribution of household wealth in Great Britain during 1995–2005a period characterized by a substantial increase in wealth and an equally important decrease in wealth inequality. Abstracting from behavioral effects, we find that inheritances received during this period accounted for 30 percent of the increase in wealth of inheritors. Regression estimates of the effect of inheritance on wealth accumulation suggest that households spend 30 percent of their inheritances on average, and that there is substantial heterogeneity in household responses. Households that accumulated more wealth saved a larger share of their inheritances, as did middle aged households and those with lower initial wealth. Although inheritances are highly unequal they had a small impact on overall wealth inequality. This mainly reflected the fact that their size relative to other sources of wealth was very small.     

From unemployed to entrepreneur: The role of the absolute bequest motive

Using the British Household Panel Survey, this paper finds that inheritance has a concave effect on the hours worked by male entrepreneurs. Receiving an inheritance increases the labor supply of unemployed male entrepreneurs; however this effect becomes smaller for higher inheritances.     

Bequests,gifts, and education: links between intergenerational transfers

We study the channels parents use to make transfers to their children. First, we focus on the relationship between investments in education and property transfers. Second, we turn to how property transfers are divided between inter vivos gifts and bequests. We use a Swedish dataset that is superior to previously used data as it contains information on both gifts and inheritances received from parents. We estimate models for the probabilities of having university education, receiving gifts, and receiving inheritances. In addition, we estimate models for gift and inheritance amounts. We find that the more resources parents have, the higher the likelihood of transfers, and that the correlation between receiving inter vivos gifts and inheritances is very high. Finally, women are more likely to have university education and to receive gifts, and daughters receive gifts of larger amounts than sons, although there are no differences in terms of inheritance.     

Subjective Inheritance Expectations and Economic Outcomes

In this paper we investigate whether and to what extent inheritance expectations act as a driver of economic choices. We use survey data that are representative of the Dutch adult population with a specific module on subjective probabilities on receiving an inheritance and its amount in the next 10 years. We analyze whether the expected inheritance acts as a deterrent to saving. Results suggest that individuals perceive the expected inheritances as a potential increase of personal wealth, which leads to a reduction in savings. Expectations also appear to matter for the intentions to bequeath and for intended choices on work versus leisure in the future.     

The impact of inheritances on the retirement behavior of older Europeans

The aim of this paper is to study how wealth affects retirement behavior. I use data from the 2004–2012 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, covering 10 European countries. Inheritances are used as an exogenous change in wealth to estimate the causal effect of wealth/inheritance receipt on retirement. I apply binary choice models for a sample of persons working in 2004/05 to estimate the effect of inheritance receipt during 2005–2011 on the probability of retirement in 2011/12. By comparing data on expected retirement age at the beginning of the sample period with actual retirement age I am able to control for unobserved factors that might be correlated with wealth and affect retirement decisions. The main findings are: (1) Inheritance receipt is quite common for individuals nearing retirement age (50+). About 20 % of the sample aged 50 and older in 2011/12 live in households that received at least one inheritance between 2005 and 2011. (2) Inheritance receipt significantly increases the probability of retirement and the effect increases with the size of the inheritance. (3) In contrast to what life-cycle theory suggests I do not find any evidence that expected and unexpected inheritances affect adjustments of planned retirement age differently. These results are important for assessing the effect of policies that induce changes in wealth, such as pension reforms, tax reforms or reforms of Social Security, on retirement behavior.     

Descent rules and strategic transfers. Evidence from matrilineal groups in Ghana

Traditional descent systems can roughly be divided into patrilineal and matrilineal. In the latter, a man's heir is not his own child but rather his sister's son. The paper examines the implications of this social norm for the pattern of inter-vivos transfers using household level data from rural Ghana, where the largest ethnic group is traditionally matrilineal. In particular, it tests the predictions of a model of strategic behavior according to which children should respond to the threat of disinheritance by increasing transfers to their parents during lifetime to induce a donation of land before the default (matrilineal) inheritance is enforced. I find that the credibility of customary norms enforcement, as proxied by the presence of a nephew in the father's household, significantly increases the probability of receiving transfers from children for Akans but not for the other groups. The effect is specific to nephews and not to other co-resident boys. This pattern of behavior can affect asset accumulation decisions across generations.     

A COMPARISON OF DISTRIBUTIONS OF ANNUAL AND LIFETIME INCOME: SWEDEN AROUND 1970.

The concern with income distribution has always mainly existed because of a concern with individuals' economic welfare. In recent years, the question has arisen whether the distribution of annual income—the distribution most often studied—is the best proxy for the distribution of economic welfare. Other measures, such as lifetime income, have been proposed instead.
The paper starts with a discussion of how to define and measure the distribution of lifetime income. By using a simulation model, which partly consists of estimated functions and partly of tax functions taken directly from tax laws, distributions of lifetime income, variously defined, are then constructed. These distributions are compared with each other, and with distributions of annual income. The simulations indicate that the distribution of lifetime income is considerably less unequal than the distribution of annual income. Whether inheritances are included or not seems to be of no importance for the inequality of lifetime income. If, on the other hand, we include the value of leisure time in lifetime income, inequality increases by about 10–15 percent. Distributions of income after tax have Gini coefficients which are approximately 25 percent less than the Ginis for the before-tax distributions. We thus find that the picture of inequality we get is very much dependent on which income concept we use.     

Hayek’s monetary theory and policy: A note on alleged inconsistency

Challenging the dominant view, we claim that Hayek’s monetary views did not significantly change over his lifetime. The prevalent perception of early Hayek as a money stream stabilizer and late Hayek as a price level stabilizer is attributable to an unjustified normative interpretation of Hayek’s positive analysis. We argue that in his contributions to monetary theory, Hayek took the goals of monetary policy as exogenously given and analysed the efficiency of different means of achieving them. Hayek’s allegedly inconsistent transformation from a critic to an advocate of price level stabilization is explained by a change of issues under his focus, rather than by a change in his positive views. We also claim that Hayek was always aware that every practical monetary policy involves difficult trade-offs and that he was therefore reluctant to impose his own value judgments on what people should strive for.     

试论蔡伦的科学精神

自1980年代以来,学术界对蔡伦精神或蔡伦的科学精神进行了初步总结和概括,但还不够系统和全面。文章从蔡伦一生的价值追求、人生态度、工作作风和开拓精神等四个方面对其科学精神进行了总结和概括,以期加深读者对我国东汉时期杰出的科学家蔡伦的认识和了解,为弘扬蔡伦的科学精神而努力。     

LEARNING AND LIFE CYCLE PATTERNS OF OCCUPATIONAL TRANSITIONS

Individuals experience frequent occupational switches during their lifetime, and initial worker characteristics are predictive of future patterns of occupational switching. We construct a quantitative model of occupational choices with worker learning and occupation‐specific productivity shocks to match life cycle patterns of occupational transitions and quantify the value of occupational mobility and learning. For the average 18‐year‐old worker, the value of being able to switch occupations is about 67 months of the maximum wage he or she could earn in the model, and the value of a worker learning his or her type is about 32 months of this maximum wage.     

Wealth Distribution and Optimal Inheritance Taxation in Life-cycle Economies with Intergenerational Transfers

Intergenerational transfers are introduced into a general equilibrium life-cycle model in order to explain observed levels of wealth heterogeneity. In our overlapping generations model, heterogenous agents face uncertain lifetime and leave both accidental and voluntary bequests to their children. Furthermore, agents face stochastic employment opportunities. The model is calibrated with regard to the characteristics of the US economy. Our results indicate that bequests only account for a small proportion of observed wealth heterogeneity. The introduction of an inheritance tax increases both welfare, as measured by the average lifetime utility of a newborn, and equality of the wealth distribution.
JEL classification : D 31; D 91; H 21; C 68; E 21     

内部因素对家族企业传承影响的实证分析——基于在任者的视角

家族企业代际传承将直接影响企业的成长和竞争力。本文从在任者视角,实证研究了家族因素和在任者因素对家族企业代际传承的影响。研究结果表明,家族因素对传承意愿起着主导作用,说明中国传统文化深刻影响着家族企业代际传承,可以借鉴组建家族委员会的方式来协调家族成员与企业之间的关系,促进家族与企业的和谐发展;在任者的文化程度和年龄明显影响着家族企业传承计划的安排,本科以上学历的在任者会在传承时间、传承对象和继承人培养等方面更具前瞻性。在任者文化程度不高制约了家族企业发展,可以通过加强在任者素质教育来提高家族企业的传承质量。     

Female entrepreneurship in transition economies: the case of Lithuania and Ukraine

Abstract

To date, little research has focused on female entrepreneurship in the context of transitioning countries. This paper compares from an institutional perspective two countries at different stages in the process of transformation. Lithuania followed a rapid transitional path leading to European Union membership, while Ukraine is on a much slower development path. Women entrepreneurs in Lithuania and Ukraine share many common features and problems; however, there are important differences in the experiences of women in these two countries. This indicates a need to recognize the diversity that exists among transition countries, reflecting different inheritances from the Soviet past as well as differences in the pace of change during the transition period.     

Dutertenomics: Populism,Progress, and Prospects

In 2016, when Rodrigo Duterte was elected Philippine President the economy was growing robustly. Despite the record growth, his election is considered a populist revolt of the middle‐ and upper‐class Filipinos. Yet, his economic policies – from his initial 10‐point agenda to the laws he approved – are liberal. This paper distinguishes and relates Duterte's authoritarian‐populist political style (“Dutertismo”) and his economic agenda (“Dutertenomics”). The distinction follows from his lack of interest in economic affairs, which he delegated to his team of economic managers. This team ably pushes important economic reforms because of the president's style, which so far has earned him wide public approval. After slowing down during the first half of Duterte's term, growth has recently picked up. To keep the momentum and public attention off human rights violations, Duterte needs to accomplish his economic agenda by mid‐2022. Drawing on his powers and popularity, he may yet be able to elicit the full support of Congress.     

陈豹隐对马克思主义经济理论的贡献及启示

陈豹隐是中国著名的老一辈经济学家,他一生的学术研究对马克思经济学理论的传播、继承与发展作出了巨大贡献,他在商品、商品生产、价值、价值规律方面的研究具有独特价值并给我们以重要启示。     

Lifetime Utility Maximization When the Consumer's Lifetime Depends on his Consumption*

A model of consumer behaviour is postulated whereby expected lifetime is an argument of the consumer's utility function and the consumption pattern chosen by the consumer affects his subjective probability distribution over expected, lifetime. Although introducing uncertainty makes the derivation of general conclusions difficult, it is shown for a simple two-good case that there are significant implications for income and substitution effects and the shape of the consumer's demand curve.     

‘… More of Keynes and Less of Milton Friedman!’ 1

This paper gives an account of the scientific work of a pioneer whose heterodox ideas stimulated debate in development economics for more than three decades. It will be shown that his intellectual biography—in particular, his experiences as a victim of National Socialism—provided an important stimulus for his commitment to the problems of the socially underprivileged. This led him to initiate several studies of unemployment in the depressed areas of Great Britain during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Then, starting from the late 1940s, during the years of his affiliation with the UN, he made pathbreaking contributions to the economics of underdevelopment in fields such as the deterioration of terms of trade, the basic needs strategy, and food security. The topics will be discussed both in the context of history of thought and with regard to recent work in development economics.     

福克纳小说中矛盾的女性情结探究

威廉·福克纳是美国南方文学的代表作家,他的作品向读者展示了一种无法释怀的矛盾情结,这种情结在他对女性人物的塑造上体现得淋漓尽致。对于女性,福克纳是充满了矛盾的情感。一方面,他表达了对女性的无法遏制的爱;另一方面,他又憎恨女性。这是他自己生活经历的写照。     

Cultural species and their ecosystems

The target article was written for a workshop that I organized with Lin Ostrom titled “Rules as Genotypes in Cultural Evolution”. In my commentary, I describe the background for the workshop and target article in addition to commenting on the article itself. A compelling case can be made for functionally organized human groups as like species that adapt to their local environments. A cultural inheritance mechanism is required for this to happen, which functions analogously to genetic inheritance, although the mechanistic details need not be analogous. Indeed, a diversity of cultural inheritance mechanisms are possible that need not be mechanistically analogous to each other. In addition, most modern human populations consist of a diversity of functionally organized groups, or cultural ecosystems. The distinction between “species” and “ecosystem” is important because the concept of an inheritance system applies primarily to the former. Finally, positive cultural evolution in modern large-scale society must be engineered and an explicitly evolutionary perspective will add value to the enterprise.     

O．E．威廉姆森学术思想发展的三个阶段

2009年诺贝尔经济学奖获得者O．E．威廉姆森的学术思想经历了三个发展阶段：早期侧重于企业行为与市场管制；巅峰时期研究交易成本和企业边界；晚年集中于公司治理和管理。威廉姆森的研究深受赫伯特．西蒙的影响，将经济学、管理学、法学、心理学、政治学等结合起来，从跨学科的视角研究真实世界里的企业，对经济发展和社会科学研究产生了广泛而深远的影响。