Abstract Past social inequality research mainly focused on labor market processes and income distributions. We argue that in order to achieve a more profound picture of economic well-being analyzing wealth and not income seems to be more adequate because income is only one dimension to explain individuals' (economic) well-being. In our study we are investigating the distribution of wealth among the elderly across Europe drawing on Esping-Andersen's typology of welfare states. Our analyses based on data from the SHARE project suggest (1) a strong variation in the wealth distribution between European countries, an
