Publication

Abstract : This study follows a wealth function approach to quantify the role of inheritance in wealth inequality in the region of Punjab, India, using household data from the National Sample Survey (25th round). The specification of the wealth-function is fairly general. It is used to test the hump-shaped pattern of wealth-age relationship and also to decompose the reported wealth holding of each sample household into ‘inherited’ and ‘accumulated’ components. It is found that inheritance accounts for 53.38 and 24.13 percent of wealth inequality in the rural and urban sectors respectively. Some policy implications of our results are stated.