DP14020 Hidden Wealth
| Author(s): | Neil Cummins |
| Publication Date: | September 2019 |
| Date Revised: | June 2021 |
| Keyword(s): | Big Data, economic history, hidden wealth, Inequality, tax evasion |
| JEL(s): | D31, H26, N00, N33, N34 |
| Programme Areas: | Public Economics, Economic History |
| Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=14020 |
Using individual level records of all wealth-at-death in England, 1892-1992, together with new estimates of the wealth-specific rate-of-return on wealth, I estimate a plausible minimum level of the amount of inherited wealth that is hidden. Elites conceal around 20% of their inheritance. Among dynasties, this hidden wealth, independent of declared wealth, predicts appearance in the Offshore Leaks Database of 2013-6, house values in 1999, and Oxbridge attendance, 1990-2016. Accounting for hidden wealth eliminates at least 40% of the observed decline of the top 10% wealth-share over the past century. I find 8,549 dynasties that are hiding £7.7 Billion.