We measure wealth effects on consumption using a novel research design: responses to direct survey questions asking how much household would change in response unexpected (positive and negative) shocks own home value. The average effect is the 2-5% range, line with econometric estimates that associate changes housing realizations. However, our analysis uncovers significant heterogeneity. Extens...

Household wealth and its distribution are topics of broad public debate and increasing scholarly interest. We compare the relative strength of two of the main data sources used in research on the wealth holdings of U.S. households, the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), by providing a description and explanation of differences in the level and distr...

This paper evaluates proposals for an annual wealth tax. While a dozen OECD countries levied taxes in the recent past, now only three retain them, with Switzerland raising comparable fraction of revenue as US Studies these sometimes, but not always, find substantial behavioral response, including saving, portfolio change, avoidance, and evasion, impact depends crucially on design features, espe...