Persistence of inequalities and growth: the role of legacies.

Summary The purpose of this thesis is to understand the transmission of income inequalities through inheritances. The aim is to identify the economic mechanisms of inequality persistence and to determine the dynamic interactions between the economic environment and the distribution of inheritances. We show that the combination of credit market imperfections and the unequal access of agents to different returns on capital is a driver of initial wealth inequality. In the presence of these two phenomena, the pay-as-you-go pension system worsens initial wealth inequality. We then show that the distribution of human capital is a powerful driver of inequality persistence independently of its links with financial wealth. Indeed, the existence of different profiles of returns to human capital in the economy and of heterogeneity in the opportunity costs of investment in human capital lead agents to have different comparative advantages in their choice of occupation. This mechanism thus explains the distribution of agents in the different occupations. At the macroeconomic level, it explains the impact of the distribution of human capital on growth. For example, we show that, when individuals with low levels of human capital have a comparative advantage to engage in imitation, only individuals with a relatively high level of human capital engage in growth-enhancing innovation. The growth rate of the economy thus depends on the fraction of individuals who engage in innovation and on the average level of human capital of these individuals.