Multidimensional Measurement of Richness: Theory and an Application to Germany

40 Pages Posted: 22 Mar 2010

See all articles by Andreas Peichl

Andreas Peichl

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research; University of Mannheim - School of Economics (VWL); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; University of Essex - Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)

Nico Pestel

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

Closely following recent innovations in the literature on the multidimensional measurement of poverty, this paper provides similar measures for the top of the distribution using a dual cutoff method to identify individuals, who can be considered as rich in a multidimensional setting. We use this framework to analyze the role of wealth, health and education, in addition to income, as dimensions of multidimensional well-being in Germany. Our analysis shows that more than half of the German population is affluent in at least one dimension and less than 1% is affluent in all four dimensions. The likelihood of being rich in all dimensions is highest for prime-aged males from the West who live in couple households without children. Mobility between different affluence counts between 2002 and 2007 is rather low and existing changes are mostly driven by health and to a lesser extent by wealth.

Keywords: affluence, multidimensional measurement, mobility, elites

JEL Classification: D31, D63, I0, I31

Suggested Citation

Peichl, Andreas and Pestel, Nico, Multidimensional Measurement of Richness: Theory and an Application to Germany. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4825, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1575858 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1575858

Andreas Peichl (Contact Author)

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

University of Mannheim - School of Economics (VWL) ( email )

Mannheim 68131
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

University of Essex - Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)

Wivenhoe Park
Colchester CO4 3SQ
United Kingdom

Nico Pestel

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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