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Survival of the Richest: The Malthusian Mechanism in Pre-Industrial England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2006

GREGORY CLARK  and
GILLIAN HAMILTON
GREGORY CLARK
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Economics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8578. E-mail: [email protected].
GILLIAN HAMILTON
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Toronto, 150 St. George St., Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3G7. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Fundamental to the Malthusian model of pre-industrial society is the assumption that higher income increased reproductive success. Despite the seemingly inescapable logic of this model, its empirical support is weak. We examine the link between income and net fertility using data from wills on reproductive success, social status and income for England 1585–1638. We find that for this society, close to a Malthusian equilibrium, wealth robustly predicted reproductive success. The richest testators left twice as many children as the poorest. Consequently, in this static economy, social mobility was predominantly downwards. The result extends back to at least 1250 in England.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , September 2006 , pp. 707 - 736
Copyright
© 2006 The Economic History Association

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