Generational Wealth Accounts: Did Public and Private Inter-Generational Transfers Offset Each Other over the Financial Crisis?

A-Tier
Journal: Economic Journal
Year: 2022
Volume: 132
Issue: 647
Pages: 2412-2437

Authors (4)

David McCarthy (not in RePEc) James Sefton (not in RePEc) Ronald Lee (University of California-Berke...) Joze Sambt (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We develop Generational Wealth Accounts (GWA): the first set of balance sheets, by generations, to include all human capital, tangible wealth, financial wealth, and transfer wealth, and the uses to which these are put, and employ them to quantify inter-generational transfers and the sustainability of consumption. Consumption plans in the UK public sector worsened over the financial crisis and are unsustainable; private sector plans improved, and are now almost balanced. Increases in private capital transfers to the young offset the effect of increased public debt. House price increases shifted resources from young to old but had little effect on sustainability.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:econjl:v:132:y:2022:i:647:p:2412-2437.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-25