Update on the Reporting of the Distribution of Income and Wealth in Germany

Starting with her introduction by the resolutions of the German Bundestag on January 27th 2000 and October 19th 2001 the regular Reporting on Income and Wealth has become an indispensable information base in social discussion and for the economic and social policy of the Federal Government. The three so far exhibited Reports on Income and Wealth of the German Federal Government have improved the understanding of the distribution of financial resources and chances for fulfilment in the Federal Republic of Germany and at the same time have provided important input for the clarification of the social rsp. economic definition of poverty and wealth.

Within the preparation of the 4th Report on Income and Wealth the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) in cooperation with the Chair for Statistics, Econometrics and Quantitative Methods at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Tübingen have been commissioned to continue the Reporting on the distribution of Income and Wealth in Germany based on the recent available data and to interpret the data regarding its economic, institutional and social development taking place after the previous report.

In addition the Wealth Reporting is expanded by the following issues:

• How has wealth emerged quantitatively over time-operationalized by different measures? Which are the reasons for increasing or decreasing wealth on a general economic level?
• How persistent is wealth on the individual level and which factors have an influence on that persistence?
• How can the joint distribution function of income and wealth be characterized and analyzed? What are the socio-economic determinants of this joint distribution?
• How can the wealth structure at the top end be characterized? Are there differences in the wealth structure between the rich and the non-rich subpopulation?