Investment Sophistication and Wealth Inequality

Abstract

I examine how differences in the ability to identify profitable investment opportunities contribute to wealth inequality. I analyze a model of financial markets with investors heterogeneously informed about future returns. The unconditional wealth share distribution features a thick right-tail populated by the best-informed investors. Wealth inequality increases with the cost of information acquisition and market liquidity. It is non-monotone in the precision of public information and the size of investments delegated to the best-informed investors. I provide bounds for the speed of wealth dynamics. Using data on US households' beliefs, the model can explain the recent dynamics in wealth inequality.