Growth and income distribution: The heritage effect on the capital accumulation process

Abstract

This article shows how the behavioral asymmetry between workers and rentiers, whether in relation to the possibility of inheriting (or not) assets, or in relation to the magnitude of the inherited assets, impacts the decisions of the agents in relation to consumption, savings and capital stock. An alternative approach to the Baranzini (1991) model is presented for the continuous case, allowing technical progress and introducing behavioral differences between rentiers and workers, not only from the point of view of their initial endowments but also from their preferences. The technical-conceptual framework of the present approach extends Baranzini's original model by emphasizing how agents incorporate the assets into their constraints. A micro-based version of Kalecki's famous aphorism is also obtained.