Inheriting Wealth In America

Author : Robert K. Miller Jr.
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1489919317
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Inheritance and Wealth in America written by Robert K. Miller Jr. and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inheritance and Wealth in America is a superb collection of original essays, written in nontechnical language by experts in sociology, economics, anthropology, history, law, and other disciplines. Notable chapters provide - an outstanding interpretative history of inheritance in American legal thought - a critical review of the literature on the economics of inheritance at the household and societal levels - a superb history of Federal taxation of wealth transfers, and - a sociological examination of inheritance and its role in class reproduction and stratification. This groundbreaking work is of value to any researcher dealing with the transmission of wealth and privilege across generations.

Author : Edward N. Wolff
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199353972
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Inheriting Wealth in America written by Edward N. Wolff and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-27 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inheritances are often regarded as a societal "evil," enabling great fortunes to be passed from one generation to another, thus exacerbating wealth inequality and reducing wealth mobility. Discussions of inheritances in America bring to mind the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and "trust fund babies"---people who receive enough money through inheritances or gifts that they do not have any need to work during their lifetime. Though these are, of course, extreme outliers, inheritances in America have a reputation for being a way the rich keep getting richer. In Inheriting Wealth in America, Edward Wolff seeks to counter these misconceptions with data and arguments that illuminate who inherits what in the United States and what results from these wealth transfers. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances---a triennial survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Board that contains detailed information on household wealth, inheritances, and gifts---as well as the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and a simulation model over years 1989 to 2010, Wolff reports six major findings on the state of inheritances in America. First, wealth transfers (inheritances and gifts) accounted for less than one quarter of household wealth. However, for persons age 75 and over, the figure was about two-fifths since they have more time to receive wealth transfers. Indirect evidence, derived from the simulation model, indicates a figure closer to two-thirds at end of life - probably the best estimate. Second, despite prognostications of a coming "inheritance boom," it has not materialized yet. Only a small (and statistically insignificant) uptick in average wealth transfers was observed over the period, and wealth transfers were actually down as a share of household wealth. Third, while wealth transfers are greater in dollar amount for richer households than poorer ones, they constitute a smaller share of the accumulated wealth of the rich. Fourth, contrary to popular belief, inheritances and gifts, on net, reduce wealth inequality rather than raising it. The rationale is that inheritances and particularly gifts typically flow from richer to poorer persons, thus lowering wealth inequality. Fifth, despite a rapid rise in income inequality, the inequality of wealth transfers shows no discernible time trend from 1989 to 2010, neither upward nor downward. Sixth, among the very wealthy, the share of wealth accounted for by wealth transfers is surprisingly low, only about a sixth, and this share has trended significantly downward over time. It is true that inheritances and gifts are unequal, with only one fifth of families receiving wealth transfers and these transfers benefitting the rich far more than the middle class and the poor. That, however, is not the whole picture of inheritances in America. Clearly-written and illuminating, this books expertly distills an abundance of data on inheritances into important takeaways for all who wonder about the current state of inheritances and gifts in the United States.

Author : Jens Beckert
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780691134512
Total Pages : 396 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Inherited Wealth written by Jens Beckert and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to regulate the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next has been hotly debated among politicians, legal scholars, sociologists, economists, and philosophers for centuries. Bequeathing wealth is a vital ingredient of family solidarity. But does the reproduction of social inequality through inheritance square with the principle of equal opportunity? Does democracy suffer when family wealth becomes political power? The first in-depth, comparative study of the development of inheritance law in the United States, France, and Germany, Inherited Wealth investigates longstanding political and intellectual debates over inheritance laws and explains why these laws still differ so greatly among these countries. Using a sociological perspective, Jens Beckert sheds light on the four most controversial issues in inheritance law during the past two centuries: the freedom to dispose of one's property as one wishes, the rights of family members to the wealth bequeathed, the dissolution of entails (which restrict inheritance to specific classes of heirs), and estate taxation. Beckert shows that while the United States, France, and Germany have all long defended inheritance rights based on the notion of individual property rights, they have justified limitations on inheritance rights in profoundly different ways, reflecting culturally specific ways of understanding the problems of inherited wealth.

Author : Edward N. Wolff
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781298049292
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Inheritances and the Distribution of Wealth Or Whatever Happened to the Great Inheritance Boom? - Scholar's Choice Edition written by Edward N. Wolff and published by . This book was released on 2015-02-16 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Author : Heather Beth Johnson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317744071
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The American Dream and the Power of Wealth written by Heather Beth Johnson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-11-20 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the overwhelming evidence against them, many people still believe they can overcome the economic and racial constraints placed upon them at birth. In the first edition, Heather Beth Johnson explored this belief in the American Dream with over 200 in-depth interviews with black and white families, highlighting the ever-increasing racial wealth gap and the actual inequality in opportunities. This second edition has been updated to make it fully relevant to today’s reader, with new data and illustrative examples, including twenty new interviews. Johnson asks not just what parents are thinking about inequality and the American Dream, but to what extent children believe in the American Dream and how they explain, justify, and understand the stratification of American society. This book is an ideal addition to courses on race and inequality.

Author : Anthony B. Atkinson
Publisher : North Holland
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 938 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Handbook of Income Distribution written by Anthony B. Atkinson and published by North Holland. This book was released on 2000-06-07 with total page 938 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Distributional issues may not have always been among the main concerns of the economic profession. Today, in the beginning of the 2000s, the position is different. During the last quarter of a century, economic growth proved to be unsteady and rather slow on average. The situation of those at the bottom ceased to improve regularly as in the preceding fast growth and full-employment period. Europe has seen prolonged unemployment and there has been widening wage dispersion in a number of OECD countries. Rising affluence in rich countries coexists, in a number of such countries, with the persistence of poverty. As a consequence, it is difficult nowadays to think of an issue ranking high in the public economic debate without some strong explicit distributive implications. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxes, monetary or trade union, privatisation, price and competition regulation, the future of the Welfare State are all issues which are now often perceived as conflictual because of their strong redistributive content. Economists have responded quickly to the renewed general interest in distribution, and the contents of this Handbook are very different from those which would have been included had it been written ten or twenty years ago. It has now become common to have income distribution variables playing a pivotal role in economic models. The recent interest in the relationship between growth and distribution is a good example of this. The surge of political economy in the contemporary literature is also a route by which distribution is coming to re-occupy the place it deserves. Within economics itself, the development of models of imperfect information and informational asymmetries have not only provided a means of resolving the puzzle as to why identical workers get paid different amounts, but have also caused reconsideration of the efficiency of market outcomes. These models indicate that there may not necessarily be an efficiency/equity trade-off; it may be possible to make progress on both fronts. The introduction and subsequent 14 chapters of this Handbook cover in detail all these new developments, insisting at the same time on how they tie with the previous literature on income distribution. The overall perspective is intentionally broad. As with landscapes, adopting various points of view on a given issue may often be the only way of perceiving its essence or reality. Accordingly, income distribution issues in the various chapters of this volume are considered under their theoretical or their empirical side, under a normative or a positive angle, in connection with redistribution policy, in a micro or macro-economic context, in different institutional settings, at various point of space, in a historical or contemporaneous perspective. Specialized readers will go directly to the chapter dealing with the issue or using the approach they are interested in. For them, this Handbook will be a clear and sure reference. To more patient readers who will go through various chapters of this volume, this Handbook should provide the multi-faceted view that seems necessary for a deep understanding of most issues in the field of distribution. For more information on the Handbooks in Economics series, please see our home page on http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/hes

Author : Lisa A. Keister
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521627511
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Wealth in America written by Lisa A. Keister and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-06-19 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utilizing existing data and new research methods, Keister examines househould wealth distribution from 1962 to 1995.

Author : Lisa A. Keister
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521536677
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Getting Rich written by Lisa A. Keister and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-05-30 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although basic facts about wealth inequality are no longer a mystery, we still know very little about who the wealthy are, how they got there, and what prevents other people from becoming rich. That is, we know very little about the process of wealth mobility. This book explores wealth by investigating some of the most basic questions about wealth mobility. How much mobility is there? Has the nature of mobility changed over time? Is entrepreneurship important? How much does inheritance matter? What other factors encourage or prevent wealth mobility, and how do these change over the course of a person's life?

Author : Carole Shammas
Publisher : Frontier Press (NY)
ISBN 13 : 9780932231123
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Inheritance in America written by Carole Shammas and published by Frontier Press (NY). This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Jacqueline L. Angel
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780801887635
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Inheritance in Contemporary America written by Jacqueline L. Angel and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2008-01-28 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description