A Micro Perspective on r $>$ g. Iacono, R. & Palagi, E. .
A Micro Perspective on r $>$ g [link]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
For which segments of the net wealth distribution are returns to wealth higher than growth rates of income? Although Piketty's r $>$ g is conceived as a tool to highlight distributional concerns, it does not account for covariation between real rates of return and position in the net wealth distribution. By exploiting large-scale administrative data on estimated gross and net personal wealth in Norway from 2010 to 2018, this paper establishes the first micro-level analysis of the difference between the real return on wealth and the real growth rate of total pre-tax income across the entire net wealth distribution. We show that, for the top half of the distribution, the aggregate R − G underestimates its micro counterpart r − g, whilst the opposite happens for the bottom half, indicating that the micro r − g qualifies as a more precise measure to thoroughly analyze the dynamics of wealth inequality. We show as well that around 44% of the variation in r − g when moving up from the bottom to the top decile of the net wealth distribution is associated with scale dependence, whilst the residual variation can be attributed to persistent heterogeneity.
@unpublished{iaconoMicroPerspective2021,
  title = {A {{Micro Perspective}} on r {$>$} g},
  author = {Iacono, Roberto and Palagi, Elisa},
  date = {2021},
  journaltitle = {WID.world Working Paper Series},
  series = {{{WID}}.World {{Working Paper Series}}},
  publisher = {{WID}},
  url = {https://wid.world/wid-publications/},
  abstract = {For which segments of the net wealth distribution are returns to wealth higher than growth rates of income? Although Piketty's r {$>$} g is conceived as a tool to highlight distributional concerns, it does not account for covariation between real rates of return and position in the net wealth distribution. By exploiting large-scale administrative data on estimated gross and net personal wealth in Norway from 2010 to 2018, this paper establishes the first micro-level analysis of the difference between the real return on wealth and the real growth rate of total pre-tax income across the entire net wealth distribution. We show that, for the top half of the distribution, the aggregate R − G underestimates its micro counterpart r − g, whilst the opposite happens for the bottom half, indicating that the micro r − g qualifies as a more precise measure to thoroughly analyze the dynamics of wealth inequality. We show as well that around 44\% of the variation in r − g when moving up from the bottom to the top decile of the net wealth distribution is associated with scale dependence, whilst the residual variation can be attributed to persistent heterogeneity.},
  pagetotal = {1–20},
  file = {C\:\\Users\\lukis\\AppData\\Roaming\\Zotero\\Zotero\\Profiles\\h20ej2eu.default\\zotero\\storage\\J3G7X5I7\\Iacono_Palagi_2021_A Micro Perspective on r g.pdf}
}

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