Wealth inequalities among seniors: the role of marital histories across cohorts.

Wealth accumulation is the result of several factors: saving behaviors, inheritance, work and marital histories. In a context of increasing diversity of marital histories over cohorts, this article examines how relationship history may shape long-term wealth accumulation and wealth inequality. It goes beyond household wealth by looking at individual wealth. Focusing on individuals above 50 and using data from cross-sectional wealth surveys conducted in France in 2004, 2009, and 2014, we evaluate the contribution of their marital histories to individual wealth across different birth cohorts of men and women. We document the existence of a couple wealth premium, observed for both married and unmarried partners who are wealthier than the divorced, separated, or always single. Accumulated wealth significantly depends on marital history. Women have smaller wealth when they have not been continuously in a relationship. This is also the case for men but only for those belonging to the lowest quantiles. Over birth cohorts, marital break-up is responsible for less accumulated wealth. This is mainly noticeable for cohorts born after WWII. If marital histories had not diversified, the wealth accumulated by women would have been greater at older ages and those of men would have been more evenly distributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]