How is wealth distributed in Austria? Study gives amazing answer!
A new study by the National Bank shows how much wealth in Austria is concentrated in the hands of very few. The richest one percent owns half of all wealth in the country. This is the result of complex statistical calculations, because there are no official figures. Austria does not collect any data about how concentrated the wealth is. An emerging asset register could change that.
“Of all classes, the rich get the most attention and the least analysis,” says economist Kenneth Galbraith. It is always surprising that the Austrian state does not want to know how much wealth the richest in this country have. For all other groups in society, it goes without saying that state support is only granted if the state has insight into the financial situation of those affected. Both 42 billion euros in corona aid to companies have been dispensed with such needs checks. The wealth situation of the major owners remains unknown. And this despite the fact that they have benefited from the aid payments.
New OeNB study: The richest one percent owns almost half
One also complains about the meager data situation on large fortunes in Austria New study by the National Bank, who had to use complex estimates to approximate the real wealth of the top one percent in the country. to die Economists’ simulations show that the net wealth of the richest one percent probably makes up a higher proportion of the total net wealth of all households than previously thought:
According to the results of the National Bank study, the top one percent owns almost half of all assets in Austria.
The Gini coefficient, the international measure of wealth inequality in a society, is also likely to be significantly higher than was previously the case for Austria: instead of 0.76, it should be 0.9. The Gini coefficient ranges from 0 (everyone owns the same amount of wealth) to 1 (one owns everything).
With a value of 0.9, as can be assumed for Austria, in a group of 100 people, 99 people have one euro each and one has 1,000 euros.
Government does not collect data on wealth in Austria
Together with the US statistician and doyen of wealth research Arthur Kennickell, two national bank economists tried to get a realistic picture of the wealth distribution in Austria. Kennickell did the regular wealth survey for the US Federal Reserve in the 1980s fed built up. Today he also advises the European Central Bank on the wealth survey, which has been carried out in 24 EU countries since 2010.
“The study by the National Bank suggests that the top 1 percent, i.e. the wealthiest households, own significantly more than we previously assumed,” says Emanuel List from the Vienna University of Economics and Business in the Ö1 journal.
The simulations are complex for one reason: Austria’s government does not collect any data on over-wealth. “The true extent of wealth inequality is unknown,” the authors write. The data for your calculations refer to the study the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) – the Europe-wide identification of assets, which WILL be carried out by the National Bank. Households are randomly asked about their wealth situation. Billionaires like René Benko or the Porsche-Pierch family either don’t get caught or they don’t provide any information. The wealth collected in this way is therefore far below the actual values, as some studies have now shown. The richest study participant has a fortune of 70 million. That’s not much compared to René Benko’s €5 billion fortune.
Therefore, the study authors supplemented the data with information from rich lists such as the Forbes list of dollar billionaires and the trending rich list. Because all of this data is only an approximation, economists use simulations to calculate the real wealth of the super-rich. Depending on the assumptions and weighting (what about the Indebtedness of the richest or the composition of their wealth regards), the wealth share of the richest one percent lies between 24% and 51% am the entire fortune of all people in Austria. All information indicates that the realistic wealth of the richest 1 percent is around half of all wealth.
Interesting: If people in Austria are asked how much wealth the richest one percent should own, the answer is: a share of around 12 percent.
Respondents are also way off the mark when it comes to self-assessment. Only a few correctly assess their actual position in the distribution of wealth. And: The richer people are, the more wrong their own assessment becomes. Among the richest 10% of households, not a single household classified itself correctly in the overall distribution. Most of them position themselves (consciously or unconsciously) in the “middle” of society. The ability to self-assess is independent of the level of education. If you want to test yourself, you can on the website “binichreich.at” to do.
Mandatory asset register could close data gaps
It is clear to the economists at the National Bank that more data on the concentration of wealth is urgently needed. The data gap can only be crossed close a statutory property register. But the lobby of the richest has been up in arms for years. The National Bank economists Request a Global Asset Register. Not only would that be useful for analytical purposes, it could also help fight money laundering and tax evasion.
According to Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman, the richest of the rich evade around 25 percent of their taxes. Multinational corporations shift around 40 percent of their profits to tax havens. The tax loss for the public budgets of the industrialized countries is enormous.
Private fortunes are the center of economic power, but political influence and media power WILL also be acquired with them. Data on the concentration of wealth, which is also being discussed in Parliament, would make sense in terms of democratic policy. With no other group would one naturally forego transparency and control options as with the top 1 percent.
The super-rich increased their wealth by 15 percent in the Corona year 2020/21
According to 46 billionaires there are trend rich list in Austria and the pandemic has played into their hands: A large part of Austria’s handovers have been able to significantly increase their wealth in the last two years. The financial markets are doing excellently, the real estate market is booming. Among the 100 richest are mainly heirs from families that have concentrated the country’s wealth in their accounts for generations.
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