| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
| Recent trends in the size and the distribution of inherited wealth in the UK | | Author(s) | Eleni Karagiannaki |
| Corporate Author | ESRC Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion - CASE, Suntory-Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines - STICERD, London School of Economics and Political Science |
| Publisher | STICERD, London, 2011 |
| Pages | 31 pp (CASEpaper 146) |
| Source | Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case |
| Keywords | Wealth ; Assets [elderly] ; Social economics ; Legacies ; Longitudinal surveys. |
| Annotation | The evolution of the annual flow of inheritances in the UK during the period 1984-2005 is documented, along with estimates for the overall magnitude and the distribution of inherited wealth. The analysis uses: Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published statistics on estates passing on death (1984-2005); the 2004 Attitudes to Inheritance Survey (AIS) which provides information on lifetime transfers; the 1995/96 General Household Survey (GHS) and the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) which provide respectively information on inheritance received during the period 1986-1995 and 1996-2005. The focus is on intergenerational inheritance, since these are more directly relevant in debates about the intergenerational transmission of wealth inequality. The results indicate that the annual flow of inheritance increased markedly, from £22 billion in 1984 to £56 billion in 2005. The main reasons behind this increase were the rise in house prices, and, to a lesser extent, the increase in the proportion of inheritances which included housing assets. The results, based on analysis of survey data, show that the distribution of inheritances is characterised by a very high degree of inequality and that this has increased over time. The results also show that inheritance is positively associated with socio-economic status, and that the disparities between groups became slightly more pronounced over time (mainly across educational groups). However, the evidence is that for the majority of recipients inheritance is fairly small, and that large inheritances are limited to a very small minority of the population. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-121001009 B |
| Classmark | W7: JD: W4: QE7: 3J |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|