Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7368244 | Journal of Monetary Economics | 2018 | 19 Pages |
Abstract
The dynamics of wealth inequality are studied in a continuous-time Blanchard/Yaari model. Investment returns are idiosyncratic and subject to Knightian uncertainty. In response, agents formulate robust portfolio policies. These policies are nonhomothetic; wealthy agents invest a higher fraction of their wealth in uncertain assets yielding higher mean returns. This produces a feedback mechanism that amplifies inequality. It also produces an accelerated rate of convergence, which helps resolve a puzzle recently identified by Gabaix et al. (2016). An empirically plausible increase in uncertainty can account for about half of the recent increase in top wealth shares.
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Social Sciences and Humanities
Economics, Econometrics and Finance
Economics and Econometrics
Authors
Kenneth Kasa, Xiaowen Lei,