%0 Report
        %A Lersch, Philipp M.
%A Schnitzlein, Daniel D.
%A Pfeffer, Fabian T.
%A Grabka, Markus M.
        %T Wealth among Siblings in Germany
        %D 2026
        %8 2026 Oct
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 19035
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp19035
        %X This study examines sibling similarity in wealth in Germany and how it is shaped by family socioeconomic status, partnering, and partner wealth homogamy. We use multilevel models, variance decomposition, and a novel decomposition for partnered individuals drawing on high-quality, nationally representative survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study to estimate overall and gender-specific sibling correlations in wealth for all of Germany and for East and West Germany separately. Overall, sibling similarity in wealth is relatively high in Germany with an overall value of 0.33, though similarity in wealth is substantially higher in West Germany than in East Germany. Sister correlations in individual wealth are higher than brother correlations, although this gender difference shrinks once we consider household wealth. An important channel creating sibling similarity in household wealth runs through partners’ wealth. Socioeconomic status of the origin family accounts for a substantial portion of sibling similarity among women but less so among men.
        %K family
%K wealth
%K siblings
%K intergenerational transmission
%K social mobility