Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/66144 
Year of Publication: 
Oct-2010
Citation: 
[Journal:] Oxford Economic Papers [Volume:] 62 [Issue:] 4 [Publisher:] Oxford University Press [Place:] Oxford [Year:] 2010 [Pages:] 669-690
Publisher: 
Oxford University Press, Oxford
Abstract: 
Economic research on the determinants of gender differences in economic outcomes particularly in income and consumption is well established. Extending these investigations to other outcomes such as wealth up till now has been limited due to lack of individual-level data. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) we find a significant ‘raw’ gender wealth gap of 50,000€ for married partners. Decomposition analyses reveal that the gap is largely driven by differences in characteristics between men and women (observables), particularly by individual’s own income and labour market experience. This is especially true at the bottom and at the top of the wealth distribution, which we show using semi-parametric decomposition techniques. Differences in the lower half of the distribution are mostly driven by the wealth function, i.e., the way in which women transform their characteristics into wealth.
Subjects: 
Wealth gap
Wealth inequality
Gender
SOEP
JEL: 
D13
D31
D69
I31
Published Version’s DOI: 
Additional Information: 
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in the journal "Oxford Economic Papers" following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Examining the Gender Wealth Gap / Eva M. Sierminska, Joachim R. Frick, Markus M. Grabka. In: Oxford Economic Papers 62(2010) Heft 4 ; S. 669-690 is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpq007
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Accepted Manuscript (Postprint)

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.