THE IMPLICATIONS OF STOCHASTIC DEMOGRAPHIC ASSUMPTIONS FOR MODELS OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF INHERITED WEALTH

The paper extends existing distributional models to incorporate two sets of 'stochastic' demographic assumptions: (a) where the number of heirs is randomly determined, and (b) where the gender of a given child is randomly determined (but the total number of heirs is non-stochastic). The consequent increase in heterogeneity of family types might be expected to increase the inequality of family wealth and reduce the degree of intergenerational inheritance, relative to the 'deterministic' case, but it is shown that this conclusion is very much conditional on the other assumptions made; about the pattern of marriage and estate division in particular.