Multigenerational Transmission of Wealth: Florence, 1403–1480
利用佛罗伦萨中世纪晚期的家庭财富数据，研究多代际流动性，发现社会流动性高于预期但多代际流动性低于两代估计，并揭示婚姻网络和政治参与与经济地位持久性的关联。
By using hand-collected data on households’ wealth assessments, we study multigenerational mobility in Florence during the late Middle Ages. We find that Florentine society was more mobile than one would expect but also that multigenerational mobility was lower than implied by two-generation estimates. We reconcile these findings by showing their consistency with a model where wealth transmission is governed by an unobserved latent factor. We also show that, given our estimates, this model is compatible with the long run persistence obtained by previous studies. Finally, we find that participation in marriage networks and politics correlates with persistence of economic status across generations.