The wealth-to-salary ratio: a simple indicator of inequality
Abstract
In previous studies, using agent-based simulations of a model of a capitalist economy proposed by Ian Wright, we showed that inequality in both wealth and income distributions is largely governed by a single key parameter: the ratio between average wealth per capita and the mean salary, denoted by R. This parameter captures the relative importance of accumulated assets compared with labor income. In the model, larger values of R are systematically associated with higher levels of inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient. In the present work, we investigate whether this relationship is also observed in real-world economies. Using empirical data from the World Inequality Database (WID) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), we construct empirical estimates of R and compare them with standard measures of income and wealth inequality. We find a positive relation between R and inequality across several empirical settings, with the strongest relationships observed for mature and advanced economies. These results provide empirical support for the role of the wealth-to-salary ratio as a simple macroscopic indicator associated with economic inequality, while also highlighting the limitations imposed by differences in data definitions and measurement across countries and periods.
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BibTeX
@misc{borba2026wealthtosalary,
title = {{The wealth-to-salary ratio: a simple indicator of inequality}},
author = {Jhordan Silveira de Borba and Sebastian Gonçalves and Celia Anteneodo},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.24192},
eprint = {2610.24192},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24192},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The wealth-to-salary ratio: a simple indicator of inequality
AU - Jhordan Silveira de Borba
AU - Sebastian Gonçalves
AU - Celia Anteneodo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.24192
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24192
AB - In previous studies, using agent-based simulations of a model of a capitalist economy proposed by Ian Wright, we showed that inequality in both wealth and income distributions is largely governed by a single key parameter: the ratio between average wealth per capita and the mean salary, denoted by R. This parameter captures the relative importance of accumulated assets compared with labor income. In the model, larger values of R are systematically associated with higher levels of inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient. In the present work, we investigate whether this relationship is also observed in real-world economies. Using empirical data from the World Inequality Database (WID) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), we construct empirical estimates of R and compare them with standard measures of income and wealth inequality. We find a positive relation between R and inequality across several empirical settings, with the strongest relationships observed for mature and advanced economies. These results provide empirical support for the role of the wealth-to-salary ratio as a simple macroscopic indicator associated with economic inequality, while also highlighting the limitations imposed by differences in data definitions and measurement across countries and periods.
ER -