How to Cite
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2017 Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft
Abstract
Between 2010 and 2014 wealth inequality has increased slightly in the euro area. Changes in house prices played an important role for the net wealth of private households. The share of the Top-1% amounts to 18.4% of total private wealth. The net wealth of median euro area households decreased by about 10%. The reductions in net wealth were larger in the lower quintiles than in the wealthier quintiles. The largest wealth losses experienced households in the lowest wealth quintile. The large wealth inequality in Germany and Austria is based in institutional similarities (welfare state, low ownership rate of real estate, low wealth related taxation, a high number of single households).