Econometrica

Journal Of The Econometric Society

An International Society for the Advancement of Economic
Theory in its Relation to Statistics and Mathematics

Edited by: Guido W. Imbens • Print ISSN: 0012-9682 • Online ISSN: 1468-0262

Econometrica: May, 2023, Volume 91, Issue 3

Decomposing the Growth of Top Wealth Shares

https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA16755
p. 979-1024

Matthieu Gomez

What drives the dynamics of top wealth inequality? To answer this question, I propose an accounting framework that decomposes the growth of the share of aggregate wealth owned by a top percentile into three terms: a within term, which is the average wealth growth of individuals initially in the top percentile relative to the economy; a between term, which accounts for individuals entering and exiting the top percentile due to changes in their relative wealth rankings; and a demography term, which accounts for individuals entering or exiting the top percentile due to death and population growth. I obtain closed‐form expressions for each term in a wide range of random growth models. Evidence from the Forbes 400 list suggests that the between term accounts for half of the recent rise in top wealth inequality.


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Supplement to "Decomposing the Growth of Top Wealth Shares"

Matthieu Gomez

This supplement contains material not found within the manuscript.

Supplement to "Decomposing the Growth of Top Wealth Shares"

Matthieu Gomez

This zip file contains the replication files for the manuscript.

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