The Family, Inheritance, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Inequality
通过理论和实证分析，探讨遗产继承如何影响消费不平等，发现遗产可能加剧或缩小不平等，取决于其来源是父母收入差异还是子女能力差异。
Unequal inheritance of material wealth is commonly considered a major cause of inequality in consumption. However, theoretical models of the intergenerational transmission of inequality by Becker, Blinder, and Ishikawa imply that unequal inheritance may either increase or reduce consumption inequality. Differences in inherited wealth resulting from unequal parental incomes increase inequality in recipients' consumption. However, unequal bequests caused by differences among families in the endowed ability of children or the costs of producing human capital are equalizing. Empirical results confirm these predictions: The inheritance received by children is inversely related to both children's income and parental education. Thus bequests are "compensatory" in that (ceteris paribus) low-income children inherit more than their advantaged contemporaries.