A Model of Inherited Wealth. Blinder, A. S. 87(4):608–626.
A Model of Inherited Wealth [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
The many vexing questions in the theory of income distribution can be usefully dichotomized into two groups. An intragenerational model of income distribution takes as given the distributions of inherited wealth and abilities ("human wealth," if you will) and studies the factors that explain how the current distribution of income (or wealth) is derived. An intergenerational model, by contrast, concentrates on the transmission of net worth and human capital across generations. The present paper deals with one important aspect of the latter problem–i.e., how is the distribution of inherited wealth determined? This question has received almost no attention in the economic literature. Josiah Stamp's lament that "scientific economic inquiry into the subject of inheritance... has thus been very scanty" is as true in 1973 as it was in 1926. The present model, combined with some model of the intergenerational transmission of human capital, would "close the loop" between the income distribution of one generation and the income distribution among its heirs.
@article{blinderModelInheritedWealth1973,
  title = {A {{Model}} of {{Inherited Wealth}}},
  author = {Blinder, Alan S.},
  date = {1973},
  journaltitle = {The Quarterly Journal of Economics},
  volume = {87},
  number = {4},
  pages = {608--626},
  doi = {10.2307/1882027},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.2307/1882027},
  abstract = {The many vexing questions in the theory of income distribution can be usefully dichotomized into two groups. An intragenerational model of income distribution takes as given the distributions of inherited wealth and abilities ("human wealth," if you will) and studies the factors that explain how the current distribution of income (or wealth) is derived. An intergenerational model, by contrast, concentrates on the transmission of net worth and human capital across generations. The present paper deals with one important aspect of the latter problem–i.e., how is the distribution of inherited wealth determined? This question has received almost no attention in the economic literature. Josiah Stamp's lament that "scientific economic inquiry into the subject of inheritance... has thus been very scanty" is as true in 1973 as it was in 1926. The present model, combined with some model of the intergenerational transmission of human capital, would "close the loop" between the income distribution of one generation and the income distribution among its heirs.},
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}

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