Intergenerational Transfers and the Accumulation of Wealth
利用美国家庭数据，直接估计代际转移（包括生前赠与和遗产）对净资产的贡献，发现生前赠与至少占20%，遗产占31%，挑战了生命周期模型的解释力。
This paper uses household data to provide direct estimates of intergenerational transfers as a source of wealth. The authors distinguish between intended transfers (for example, gifts to other households) and possibly unintended transfers (bequests) and estimate that intended transfers account for at least 20 percent of net worth. Thus, a significant portion of the U.S. wealth cannot be explained by the life-cycle model, even when the model is augmented to allow for bequests. Estimated bequests can account for an additional 31 percent of net worth. The authors also show that transfers among living people are about half as large as bequests.