Income volatility and wealth volatility are central objects of investigation for the literature on income and wealth inequality and dynamics. Here we analyse the two concepts in a comparative perspective for the same individuals in Italy and the U.S. over the last two decades. We find that in both countries wealth volatility reaches significantly higher values than income volatility, the effect being mostly driven by changes in the market value of real estate assets. We also show that there is more volatility in both dimensions in the U.S. and that the overall trend in both countries is increasing over time. We conclude by exploring volatility in consumption.

收入波动和财富波动是关于收入和财富不平等与动态的文献的主要研究对象。在这里，我们以比较的角度分析了过去二十年来意大利和美国的同一个人的两个概念。我们发现在这两个国家中，财富的波动性都比收入的波动性高得多，其影响主要是由房地产资产的市场价值变化所驱动。我们还表明，美国在这两个方面的动荡性都更大，并且随着时间的推移，两国的总体趋势都在增加。最后，我们探讨了消费的波动性。