Inheritance Laws Across Colonies: Causes and Consequences
研究了殖民地时期继承法的成因与后果，发现无遗嘱继承法的延续部分源于其经济效率，多子继承制在北方激励家庭劳动，而南方接受长子继承制则促进了大规模种植园经济。
We examine in this paper both the causes and consequences of inheritance laws in the colonies. We argue that the continuation of intestate inheritance laws over the colonial period was due in part to their compatibility with economic efficiency. In the North, multigeniture helped motivate family labor, whereas the passive acceptance of the British inheritance system of primogeniture in the South rested on its promotion of large plantations that could capture economies of scale. In terms of effects, a strong bequest motive in the colonies adopting multigeniture reduced the variability in demographic experiences across colonies with different inheritance systems.