TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Alvaredo, Facundo
AU  - Berman, Yonatan
AU  - Morelli, Salvatore
        TI  - Evidence from the Dead: New Estimates of Wealth Inequality Using the Distribution of Estates
        PY  - 2024/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 17389
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp17389
        AB  - This paper examines the estimation of the distribution of wealth using estates left at death. We establish formal conditions for implementing a simplified version of the classic estate multiplier method, relying solely on minimal information about estates and mortality. These conditions are empirically validated, and the simplified approach is applied to produce new long-run top wealth share series for Belgium, Japan, and South Africa, where estate data have previously been underutilized. This method holds potential for expanding the range of countries and years in which wealth concentration can be estimated, especially where estate data exist but the standard method with heterogeneous multipliers is inapplicable.

        KW  - mortality rates
KW  - estate tax
KW  - wealth inequality
KW  - public economics
        ER  -