Do Bequests Increase or Decrease Wealth Inequalities?

Charles Yuji Horioka

NBER Working Paper No. 14639
Issued in January 2009
NBER Program(s):   AG   EFG   PE

This paper finds that individuals in Japan do not leave very significant bequests, that parents often require a quid pro quo for bequests to their children, and that wealthier individuals leave less bequests, meaning that bequests ameliorate wealth inequalities.

(71 K)

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Published: Horioka, Charles Yuji, 2009. "Do bequests increase or decrease wealth inequalities?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 23-25, April.

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Acknowledgments

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