2. RF #wealthRF
Session One
John Hills, Director of the International Inequalities Institute at the LSE
Gemma Tetlow, Economics Correspondent at the Financial Times
Conor D’Arcy, Policy Analyst at the Resolution Foundation
Torsten Bell, Director of the Resolution Foundation (chair)
Intergencommission.org 2
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The generation of wealth:
Asset accumulation across & within cohorts
Conor D’Arcy
June 2017
@conortdarcy / @resfoundation
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Why does wealth matter?
• Supports short-term living standards
• Crucial to living standards in retirement
• Inequality a concern too
• Signs that younger cohorts are not building up wealth
Intergencommission.org 4
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Britain is wealthier than ever, with property and pensions
the biggest components
Intergencommission.org 6
Total wealth: 2012-14 (nominal values), UK
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Wealth inequality is high and rising after long term falls
Intergencommission.org 7
Gini coefficient for wealth, total net family wealth per adult
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Massive geographic inequalities too
Intergencommission.org 8
Mean and median total net family wealth per adult by country/region: 2012-14
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The old have more wealth but key issue is generational
progress
Intergencommission.org 10
Median family total net wealth per adult, by age: 2012-14
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Decent trends in private pension wealth but big question
marks over future
Intergencommission.org 11
Median family private pension wealth per adult, by cohort: 2002-03–2012-14
12. RF #wealthRF
Decent trends in private pension wealth but big question
marks over future
Intergencommission.org 12
Median family private pension wealth per adult, by cohort: 2002-03–2012-14
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Generational gap emerges with property boom of 90s
and 00s
Intergencommission.org 13
Mean family net property wealth per adult, by cohort: 1993-2015
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Overall, younger cohorts less wealthy at the same age…
Intergencommission.org 14
Median family total net wealth per adult, by cohort: 2006-08–2012-14
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But it’s not just a millennial/gen X issue
Intergencommission.org 15
Change in median family total net wealth per adult as % of preceding cohort's wealth at the same age: 2006-08–2012-14
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Growing inequalities within cohorts matter too
Intergencommission.org 16
Percentiles of family total net wealth per adult, by cohort: 2006-08–2012-14
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What’s driven rising wealth?
• We quantify how much of these increases was driven by:
– active behaviour e.g. putting income into savings or accruing
pension rights
vs.
– passive gains i.e. ‘unexpected’ external forces or ‘luck’
Intergencommission.org 18
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Property wealth growth driven mainly by house price boom
Intergencommission.org 19
Active and passive changes to family net property wealth per adult, by cohort: 1993–2012-14
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Pensions more complicated but ¾ of gains due to
‘valuation’ changes
Intergencommission.org 20
‘Valuation’ and ‘non-valuation’ changes to family private pension wealth per adult, by cohort: 2006-08–2012-14
21. RF #wealthRF
Conclusions
• Wealth is big, growing but often overlooked
• Wealth inequalities are wide
• Generational progress is going backwards – for younger baby
boomers as well as millennials
• Inequalities within cohorts important too, including on gender
and geography
• Much of property and pension wealth growth over the past 20
years has been down to luck rather than savings
Intergencommission.org 21
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Session Two
David Willetts, Executive Chair of the Resolution Foundation
Nick Pearce, Director of the Institute for Policy Research, Bath University
Rachel Sylvester, Columnist at The Times (chair)
Intergencommission.org 23
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Wealth has grown, wealth taxation hasn’t
Intergencommission.org 25
Aggregate wealth & wealth taxation as % of GDP: 1955-2015
Notas del editor
Wealth has grown in relation to prices and the size of the economy over both a short and long timeframe – now 6.5 times GDP, up from around 2.5 times in late 70s
Quickly flagging importance of who you look at - difference between family and household and per adult element
Take time to explain chart
Explaining cohort lines but same idea as last chart
Broadly tracking and auto-enrolment a help but: 1) sharp rises linked to valuation may not be repeated, 2) fewer in DB (IFS stat) so less benefit from future changes, 3) need higher replacement rates
Explaining cohort lines but same idea as last chart
Broadly tracking and auto-enrolment a help but: 1) sharp rises linked to valuation may not be repeated, 2) fewer in DB (IFS stat) so less benefit from future changes, 3) need higher replacement rates
Not including slide for financial cos it’s small part (and looks weird) but follows rough trend of property
For example, the 1976-80 cohort records 36 per cent less wealth at age 35 than the 1971-75 cohort.
But tipping point from 1956-60 onwards
Explaining slowly what the chart shows
On average, the Gini coefficient within cohorts in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s is 5.4 per cent higher than the cohort born five years before them at the same age
Those born
Explain how much DC pot buys you
Valuation changes due to people living longer and interest rates being lower
Amounts to windfall of for 1950s cohort of £80k property windfall and £45k pension valuation windfall.
For those born in the 70s, £35k and £10k
These things could happen again – or something unforeseen – but given trends on DB and homeownership it seems unlikely to have big benefit