Mathis Sansu

Research field(s)

Economics / sociology of the family
Economics of inequalities

Ongoing thesis:
Household wealth structures and transfers' behaviors in a life course approach

Supervision: Marion Leturcq (INED), Nicolas Frémeaux (LERN, Rouen Normandie University)

Thesis summary: In recent decades, inter vivos gifts have become an increasingly important part of wealth transfers. Unlike inheritances, gifts are made inter vivos and are the result of choices at a given moment. My work aims to shed light on the economic, social and demographic mechanisms that may explain the making of gifts, as well as the phenomena of wealth accumulation at various points in the life cycle. In addition to the position of donor and receiver households in the distribution of wealth, the integration of intra-household wealth structures should shed light on the determinants and motives behind these transfers. Using French data from the so-called “Patrimoine” surveys, as well as Dutch administrative data, I will study wealth transfers at different points in individuals' life courses. I will study savings behavior on behalf of minor children, as well as donations to adult children, analyzing how the latter's biographical events - such as divorce - can exert differentiated influences. Taking into account the different components of wealth in relation to the gender of the receivers, as well as the gendered timing of the transfers, will also shed light on the phenomena of gendered wealth inequalities that persist today. Finally, the disappearance of a potential receiver / heir through the death of a child can modify the trajectories of wealth accumulation for his or her parents. The study of these trajectories in relation to this event will enable us to refound and theoretically restate a classic question in the literature of wealth transfers: the motives for bequests.