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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: PMC2792081

Abstract

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 inequality
in 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.1178336

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2009

Journal Title

Science

Author(s)

Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff
Bowles, 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

PMCID

PMC2792081