Affiliation:
1. Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
2. Université catholique de Louvain and a research fellow at the World Inequality Lab, Paris School of Economics
3. Paris School of Economics and a research fellow at the World Inequality Lab
Abstract
Abstract
This article estimates the distribution of personal wealth in South Africa by combining microdata covering the universe of income tax returns, household surveys, and macroeconomic balance sheet statistics. South Africa is characterized by unparalleled levels of wealth concentration. The top 10 percent own 86 percent of aggregate wealth and the top 0.1 percent close to one-third. The top 0.01 percent of the distribution (3,500 individuals) concentrate 15 percent of household net worth, more than the bottom 90 percent as a whole. Such levels of inequality can be accounted for in all forms of assets at the top end, including housing, pension funds, and financial assets. There has been no sign of decreasing inequality since the end of apartheid.
Funder
UNU-WIDER SA-TIED Project
Ford Foundation
Sloan Foundation
United Nations Development Programme
European Research Council
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Economics and Econometrics,Finance,Development,Accounting
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