Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/235101 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
KOF Working Papers No. 487
Publisher: 
ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, Zurich
Abstract: 
We estimate the ratio of private wealth to national income, Øpt, for Switzerland over the period 1900-2018. Our results indicate that the development of Øpt in Switzerland did not follow a U-shaped pattern as in most European countries, but that the evolution was extraordinarily stable, with Øpt oscillating around 500% over most of the 20th century. However, the wealth-income ratio has been on the rise since the turn of the century to reach 721% in 2017-an unprecedented level in the past. This considerable increase is mainly driven by large capital gains in housing wealth since 2010. We present new cross-country evidence that capital gains in housing wealth have become an important driver of rising wealth-income ratios in a series of developed economies.
Subjects: 
wealth-income ratio
income distribution
economic growth
housing prices
JEL: 
N34
D31
D33
E01
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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