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Most wealth in the world is inherited and grows over generations.

by kubb 5y ago

Ginden 5y ago
> Most wealth in the world is inherited and grows over generations. According to "Inheritances and the Distribution of Wealth Or Whatever Happened to the Great Inheritance Boom?": > Of the total wealth of the population, Kessler and Masson estimated that 35 percent originated from inheritances or gifts. Among those who had reported receiving an intergenerational transfer (who were about two and a half times richer than the average household), the corresponding proportion was 40 percent. This proportion will probably drop if we exclude land.
- kubb 5y ago
  Sounds about right. Add compounding stock gains on the inherited wealth, rent and growing land prices, and you'll have more than half. > This proportion will probably drop if we exclude land. Sure and if we exclude stocks it will drop further, but there's no reason to exclude land, the single most important form of property, from the calculation.
- piva00 5y ago
  Why would one exclude land from the calculation though?
  - Ginden 5y ago
    It can skew results, because poor (by income) people can own some wealth in land, because they don't want to sell it for legal or sentimental reasons. My own grandmother keeps some wasteland, because she believes that someday her children (medical professionals) will farm it.
refurb 5y ago
Pretty sure there was a US study that said most billionaire are first generation.
- MagnumOpus 5y ago
  Let me guess, they inherited small 40m fortunes, and the thirtyfold total return of the stock+property market since the eighties made them billionaires?
  - refurb 5y ago
    Nope. These people started successful businesses.
    - bradlys 5y ago
      I think there is a difference between starting a small business with a “small loan of a million dollars” and starting from truly nothing. Even people like Warren Buffett had a congressman for a father - which has quite a bit of privilege with it that can get you places.

Most wealth in the world is inherited and grows over generations.

by kubb 5y ago

Most wealth in the world is inherited and grows over generations.

> Most wealth in the world is inherited and grows over generations. According to "Inheritances and the Distribution of Wealth Or Whatever Happened to the Great Inheritance Boom?": > Of the total wealth of the population, Kessler and Masson estimated that 35 percent originated from inheritances or gifts. Among those who had reported receiving an intergenerational transfer (who were about two and a half times richer than the average household), the corresponding proportion was 40 percent. This proportion will probably drop if we exclude land.

kubb 5y ago
Sounds about right. Add compounding stock gains on the inherited wealth, rent and growing land prices, and you'll have more than half. > This proportion will probably drop if we exclude land. Sure and if we exclude stocks it will drop further, but there's no reason to exclude land, the single most important form of property, from the calculation.
piva00 5y ago
Why would one exclude land from the calculation though?
- Ginden 5y ago
  It can skew results, because poor (by income) people can own some wealth in land, because they don't want to sell it for legal or sentimental reasons. My own grandmother keeps some wasteland, because she believes that someday her children (medical professionals) will farm it.

refurb 5y ago

Pretty sure there was a US study that said most billionaire are first generation.

MagnumOpus 5y ago
Let me guess, they inherited small 40m fortunes, and the thirtyfold total return of the stock+property market since the eighties made them billionaires?
- refurb 5y ago
  Nope. These people started successful businesses.
  - bradlys 5y ago
    I think there is a difference between starting a small business with a “small loan of a million dollars” and starting from truly nothing. Even people like Warren Buffett had a congressman for a father - which has quite a bit of privilege with it that can get you places.