Using data from the Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth and
Flow of Funds, this paper provides a picture of the changes and trends in Italian
households wealth and evidence on the relationship between wealth and consumer
spending over the 1990s. Despite the substantial expansion of net worth boosted
by exceptional increases in asset prices between 1995 and 2000, wealth effects on
consumption appear to be small. Stock market effects turn out negligible due to the
small marginal propensity to consume out of financial wealth and to the modest
share of corporate equity in household portfolios. Further, over the second half of
the 1990s, households have been net buyers of financial assets and, on the whole,
they appear to have cashed in, directly or indirectly, very little of the capital gains
accrued on their wealth, which is consistent with the lack of evidence of important
direct wealth effects on consumption. Housing market effects turn out to be also
small, although larger than the stock market effects, despite the diffusion of real
estate holdings across households.