TL;DR:<p>i didn't read the whole paper but so far i gather that EU countries with higher home ownership have lower wealth inequality.<p>the causality appears to be that the need to save money to buy a home in those countries drives people to accumulate more wealth, thus lowering the wealth difference.<p>the real question now is how does that wealth actually affect the standard of living?<p>i posit that in countries like austria and germany everyone regardless of their wealth is permitted a high standard of living, in other words, being poor does not matter as much.<p>also, at least in germany, homeownership is actively discouraged because you have to sell your home if you want to get financial support from the government.<p>it would also be interesting to contrast this to the US which also has a high wealth inequality, but higher home ownership