Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP18006
Authors: Marianna Belloc; Francesco Drago; Mattia Fochesato; Roberto Galbiati
Abstract: 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 generations 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 in politics correlates with persistence of the economic status across generations.
Keywords: wealth transmission; social mobility; multiple generations; latent factors
JEL Codes: J62; N00
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Participation in marriage networks and political involvement (J12) | Persistence of economic status across generations (D15) |
| Grandparents' economic status (D19) | Grandchildren's wealth (D14) |
| Unobserved latent factor (C29) | Wealth transmission (D31) |
| Grandparental effects model (D15) | Wealth transmission (D31) |
| Historical contexts (B15) | Contemporary economic mobility (J62) |