Inheritance Flows in Switzerland, 1911-2011

We estimate the size of inheritance flows in Switzerland over a long span of data, in close analogy to the study for France by Piketty (2011). We find that inheritance flows had been growing more slowly than national income up until the 1970s, but have been outpacing income growth since. According t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc
Main Authors Brülhart, Marius, Dupertuis, Didier, Moreau, Elodie
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 01.01.2017
Subjects
Inheritances
Switzerland
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Summary:We estimate the size of inheritance flows in Switzerland over a long span of data, in close analogy to the study for France by Piketty (2011). We find that inheritance flows had been growing more slowly than national income up until the 1970s, but have been outpacing income growth since. According to our central estimates, the annual flow of inheritance amounted to 13.2% of national income in 2011. The share of total wealth that is attributable to inheritance has remained relatively stable over time, fluctuating between 45% and 60%.