I was at a seminar about it the other day from some of the top economists in Sweden and it got resoundingly thrashed. The book is definitely very overhyped.
What where their main arguments against it?
1. He's invented his own theory for how savings worked which he gives no argument for and which has no support in any previous research. Use the standard theory and his theoretical predictions do not hold.
2. His own data gives no support for his theoretical claims.
3. His exclusion of pension claims is potentially very problematic for his data on wealth.
4. Large parts of his analysis is based on pure conjecture and fiction rather than any theoretical or empirical analysis.
Also, he's a bit of a douche. But really, 1 and 2 (especially 2) are sufficient to discard his argument.
