Citation
Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff; Bowles, Samuel; Hertz, Tom; Bell, Adrian; Beise, Jan; Clark, Greg; Fazzio, Ila; Gurven, Michael; Hill, Kim; & Hooper, Paul L., et al. (2009). Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and the Dynamics of Inequality in Small-Scale Societies. Science, 326, 682-688. PMCID: PMC2792081Abstract
Small-scale human societies range from foraging bands with a strong egalitarian ethos to more economically stratified agrarian and pastoral societies. We explain this variation in inequality using a dynamic model in which a population’s long-run steady-state level of inequality depends on the extent to which its most important forms of wealth are transmitted within families across generations. We estimate the degree of intergenerational transmission of three different types of wealth (material, embodied, and relational) as well as the extent of wealth inequalityin 21 historical and contemporary populations. We show that intergenerational transmission of wealth and wealth inequality are substantial among pastoral and small-scale agricultural societies (on a par with or even exceeding the most unequal modern industrial economies) and quite limited among horticultural and foraging peoples (equivalent to the most egalitarian of modern industrial populations). Differences in the technology by which a people derive their livelihood and in the institutions and norms making up the economic system jointly contribute to this
pattern.
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1178336Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2009Journal Title
ScienceAuthor(s)
Mulder, Monique BorgerhoffBowles, Samuel
Hertz, Tom
Bell, Adrian
Beise, Jan
Clark, Greg
Fazzio, Ila
Gurven, Michael
Hill, Kim
Hooper, Paul L.
Irons, William
Kaplan, Hillard
Leonetti, Donna
Low, Bobbi
Marlowe, Frank W.
McElreath, Richard
Naidu, Suresh
Nolin, David A.
Piraino, Patrizio
Quinlan, Rob
Schniter, Eric
Sear, Rebecca
Shenk, Mary K.
Smith, Eric Alden
von Rueden, Christopher
Wiessner, Polly