Science has
published a landmark cross-cultural study of the intergenerational transmission
of wealth, and how such transmission can lead to persistent inequality in
small-scale societies.
The project, organized by economist Sam Bowles (Santa Fe
Institute) and anthropologist Monique Borgerhoff Mulder (UC Davis), drew on the
combined research of anthropologists working in 21 different field sites.
Quantitative data from these sites were used to estimate the correlation
between parents and offspring of different types of wealth (material, embodied,
and relational) and the relative importance of these types of wealth across
different modes of production.
The results show that material wealth tends to be more
heritable than embodied or relational wealth. Consequently, where material
wealth is more important than other types of wealth to household wellbeing (as
in pastoralist and agricultural societies), persistent inequality is more
pronounced. In horticultural and hunter-gatherer societies embodied wealth and
relational wealth are more important, and persistent inequality is less
pronounced.
David Nolin, Carolina Population Center Postdoctoral Scholar, was a participant in the project.
Data from his field site of Lamalera, Indonesia were used in calculating
estimates of the heritability of embodied, material, and relational wealth
among hunter-gatherers. His data supported the importance of relational wealth
among foragers (in the form of food-sharing relationships) and provided key
estimates of the heritability of material wealth among foragers.
The results of the study appear in the October 30 issue of
Science. The project was funded by the Santa Fe Institute, the Russell Sage Foundation,
and the National Science Foundation.
Borgerhoff Mulder, M., Bowles, S., Hertz, T., Bell, A.,
Beise, J., Clark, G., Fazzio, I., Gurven, M., Hill, K., Hooper, P., Irons, W.,
Kaplan, H., Leonetti, D., Low, B., Marlowe, F., McElreath, R., Naidu, S.,
Nolin, D., Piraino, P., Quinlan, R., Schniter, E., Sear, R., Shenk, M., Smith,
E., von Rueden, C., and Wiessner, P. 2009. Intergenerational Wealth
Transmission and the Dynamics of Inequality in Small-Scale Societies. Science
326, no. 5953: 682-688.
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