value) corresponds to the right to use that property until death.<sup>6</sup> This table changes periodically, according to some significant revisions of the two ingredients of the formula. For our analysis, for the sake of simplicity, we will resort to the values contained in these tables over time, which approximate the actuarial formula.

Taking account of use rights that derive from a contract of usufruct in the survey measurement of household wealth implies two different tasks: (1) If the interviewed household has the use rights (bought or received for free, it does not matter), the capital value of such rights should be considered together with other real assets. (2) If the household interviewed instead is granting the use rights to someone else, the value of such a right must be subtracted from the full value of the property, i.e., the valuation of the property must take into account the missing use rights.<sup>7</sup> It is worth noting that in Italy usufruct is not the only form of right on someone’s else property, although it is probably the most frequent. Similar to usufruct is the “right to inhabit”, which typically arises by law when one spouse passes away and leaves behind a house of residence that was jointly owned or owned solely by the deceased spouse. In such a case the surviving spouse keeps the right to live in the house of residence lifetime, even if other heirs acquire a share of ownership. So as the usufructuary, the survivor spouse is responsible for the maintenance of the property and must pay associated expenses like taxes and utilities, while cannot make significant alterations to the property without permission. Contrary to usufruct, however, the right to inhabit is personal, and cannot be transferred or assigned to another individual.<sup>89</sup> It is important to underline that the condition of a usufructuary is substantially different from that of a household that lives in a property offered by another household for free. Granting a property free of charge to someone else implies a current transfer that, by its own nature, can be stopped at any time, and thus has no certain value for the future. The absence of any right suggests excluding them from the notion of wealth.

# **3. The data**

In this paper, we will use the data from the Bank of Italy’s Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW), conducted in Italy since the 1960s to gather information on household income, consumption, wealth, and various aspects of household economic behavior. It has been conducted yearly on a national two-stage sample of 4,000 households up to 1984; since 1986 it has been carried out every two years (with some exceptions) using a sample of 8,000 households (Bank of Italy, 2022; Baffigi et al., 2016).

> 6 A similar example of “split property” is provided by the “rule of 99 years” in England and Wales where purchasing a leasehold property means buying the right to live in and use the property for the duration of the lease only (typically 99 years). As the lease term decreases, also the value of the property tends to decrease.

> 7 In cases in which the use rights of a property are obtained at the cost of a payment lower than that present value on the market (i.e. a subsidized rent), the present value of this difference could be considered as part of the household wealth as well. In practice, this can be the case only when the actual rent paid is largely lower than the market value and when the contract extends for a considerable period of time.

- 8 Notwithstanding this difference, when in legal context it is needed to assign a value to this inherited right to inhabit, jurisprudence tends to use the same tables used for evaluating the usufruct.

> 9 Further rights on someone’s else property exist in the Italian legislation but are less frequent and conceptually less relevant for their impact in terms of household wealth. In the case of “enfiteusi”, for example, the lessee (called the "enfiteuta") holds the right to use and enjoy the property (traditionally a plot of land) for an extended period, typically long-term, in exchange for certain obligations, usually payment of an annual fee or rent, or improvements of the property. This form is nowadays very rare and - due to the contextual obligations - does not significantly impact the wealth of the two subjects.