AAEA Presentation by Yaxi Chen: Returns to Household Wealth and Wealth Inequality in China: New Evidence from the China Household Finance Survey
July 26, 2017
Advisor: Steve Boucher and Michael Carter
Fields: Development Economics
Time: Tuesday, August 1st, 1:15 pm – 2:45 pm
Location: Chicago Ballroom D-H, 5th Floor
My research focuses on the role of capital in exacerbating wealth inequality across households in China. Using a newly available dataset, the China Household Finance Survey, I find that the rate of return on total wealth is increasing in household wealth holdings. I construct a general equilibrium model to characterize wealth accumulation across generations that incorporates a capital-intensive housing sector, a labor-intensive business sector, and a subsistence farming sector. The model’s key intuition is that a housing market boom affects wealth distribution by increasing the rental rate of capital and decreasing the wage rate.
