Intergenerational transfers, differential fertility, and wealth inequality

Abstract Rising income and wealth inequality across the developed world has prompted a renewed focus on the mechanisms driving inequality. This paper contributes to the existing literature by studying the impact from life-cycle savings, intergenerational transfers, and fertility differences between the rich and the poor on the wealth distribution. We find that bequests increase the level of wealth inequality and that fertility differences between the rich and the poor amplify this relationship. The counterfactual exercises show that the interaction between bequests and differential fertility is quantitatively important for understanding wealth inequality in the United States.