Editing Distribution of wealth (section)

== Theoretical approaches ==
To model aspects of the distribution and holdings of wealth, there have been many different types of theories used. Before the 1960s, the data regarding this was collected mostly from wealth tax and estate tax records, with further proof gathered from small unrepresentative examinations and a variety of other sources. The results from these sources tended to show that the distribution of wealth was very unequal, and that material inheritance had a big role in the matter of wealth differences and in the transmission of the status of wealth from generation to generation. There was also reason to believe that the inequality in wealth was shrinking over time, and also the distribution's shape demonstrated particular statistical regularities that could not have been caused by coincidence. Thus, early theoretical work on the distribution of wealth wanted to explain the statistical regularities, and also comprehend the relationship of basic forces which could be an explanation for the concentration of wealth to be high and the trend of declining over time.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Davies|first1=J.B.|last2=Shorrocks|first2=A.F.|date=2000|title=The distribution of wealth|journal=Handbook of Income Distribution|volume=1|pages=605–675|doi=10.1016/S1574-0056(00)80014-7}}</ref>

More lately, the research about wealth distribution has moved away from the worry with overall distributional characteristics, and in its place focuses more on the grounds of individual differences in the holdings of wealth.<ref name=":1" /> This change was caused partly because the importance of saving for retirement increased, and it is reflected in the vital role now assigned to the model of lifecycle savings developed by Modigliani and Brumberg<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Modigliani|first1=Franco|last2=Brumberg|first2=Richard|date=1954|chapter=Utility analysis and the consumption function: an interpretation of cross-section data|title=Post-Keynesian Economics (1962)|editor-last=Kurihara |editor-first=Kenneth K. |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |pages=388–436 }}</ref> (1954), and Ando and Modigliani<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ando|first1=A.|last2=Modigliani|first2=F.|date=1963|title=The" life cycle" hypothesis of saving: Aggregate implications and tests|journal=The American Economic Review|volume=53|pages=55–84}}</ref> (1963). Another important progress has been the increase in availability and finesse in sets of micro-data, which offer not just estimations of individuals' asset holdings and savings but also a variety of other household and personal characteristics that can assist in explain the differences in wealth.<ref name=":1" />