Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T02:39:58.744Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aging Women and Family Wealth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Jérôme Bourdieu ,
Gilles Postel-Vinay  and
Akiko Suwa-Eisenmann
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Population aging in France in the nineteenth century concerned mainly women, as men's life spans increased only after World War I. The article assesses the impact of this gender-differentiated aging process on wealth distribution, using individual data on bequests collected for the period 1800-1939. Over time, more women died without assets. But those who owned assets were richer. As a result, women's aging contributed both to a more unequal wealth distribution and to narrowing the gender gap between asset owners.

Type
Articles
Information
Social Science History , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , Summer 2008 , pp. 143 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 2008 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anonymous (1878) Annuaire statistique de la France 1878. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Anonymous (1899) Bulletin de statistique et de législation comparée 1899. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Anonymous (1937) Annuaire statistique de la France 1936. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Arrondel, Luc, and Cyril, Grange (2004) “Successions et héritiers dans la société rurale du XIXe siècle: L'exemple des familles ‘TRA’ de Loire-Inférieure.” Annales de démographie historique 2004: 53–77.Google Scholar
Blinder, Alan S. (1973) “A model of inherited wealth.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 87: 608–26.Google Scholar
Bonneuil, Noel (1997) Transformation of the French Demographic Landscape. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Bourdelais, Patrice (1993) Le nouvel âge de la vieillesse. Paris: Jacob.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Jérôme, and Lionel, Kesztenbaum (2004) “Vieux, riches, et bien portants: Une application de la base ‘TRA’ aux liens entre mortalité et richesse.” Annales de démographie historique 2004: 79–105.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Jérôme, Gilles, Postel-Vinay, and Akiko, Suwa-Eisenmann (2000) “Wealth accumulation in France, 1800-1940: The weakness of strong ties?” Paper presented at the conference “Families, Households, Kin, and Networks in the Economy,” University of California, Los Angeles, April 28-30.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Jérôme, Gilles, Postel-Vinay, and Akiko, Suwa-Eisenmann (2003) “Pourquoi la richesse ne s'est-elle pas diffusée avec la croissance? Le degré zéro de l'inégalité et son évolution en France, 1800-1940.” Histoire et mesure 18: 147–98.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Jérôme, Gilles, Postel-Vinay, and Akiko, Suwa-Eisenmann (2004) “Défense et illustration de l'enquête des 3,000 familles: L'exemple de son volet patrimonial.” Annales de démographie historique 2004: 19–51.Google Scholar
Daumard, Adeline (1973) Les fortunes françaises au XIXe siècle. Paris: Mouton.Google Scholar
Di Matteo, Livio (1998) “Wealth accumulation and the life-cycle in economic history: Implications of alternative approaches to data.” Explorations in Economic History 35: 296–324.Google Scholar
Dupâquier, Jacques, ed. (1988) Histoire de la population française. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Feller, Elise (2005) Histoire de la vieillesse en France, 1900-1960. Paris: Arslan.Google Scholar
Furet, François, and Jacques, Ozouf (1977) Lire et écrire: L'alphabétisation des Français, de Calvin à Jules Ferry. Paris: Minuit.Google Scholar
Gourdon, Vincent (2001) Histoire des grands-parents. Paris: Perrin.Google Scholar
Halpérin, Jean-Louis (2001) Histoire du droit privé français depuis 1804. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Henry, Louis, and Yves, Blayo (1975) “La population de la France de 1740 à 1860.” Population 30: 92–93.Google Scholar
Huberman, Michael M. (2004) “Working hours of the world unite? New international evidence of worktime, 1870-1913.” Journal of Economic History 64: 964–1001.Google Scholar
Jaisson, Marie, and Eric, Brian (2005) Le point de vue du nombre. Paris: Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques.Google Scholar
King, Mervyn A., and Dicks-Mireaux, Louis D. (1982) “Asset holdings and the life-cycle.” Economic Journal 92: 247–67.Google Scholar
Lévy-Leboyer, Maurice, and François, Bourguignon (1985) L'économie française au XIXe siècle: Analyse macroéconomique. Paris: Economica.Google Scholar
Moriceau, Jean-Marc (1985) “Un système de protection sociale efficace: Exemple des vieux fermiers de l'Ile-de-France (XVIIe-début XIXe siècle).” Annales de démographie historique 1985: 127–44.Google Scholar
Moriceau, Jean-Marc (1994) Les fermiers de l'Ile-de-France XVe-XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
Piketty, Thomas (2000) “Theories of persistent inequality and intergenerational mobility,” in Atkinson, Anthony B. and François, Bourguignon (eds.) Handbook of Income Distribution. Vol. 1. Amsterdam: Elsevier: 429–76.Google Scholar
Piketty, Thomas (2001) Les hauts revenus en France au XXe siècle—inégalités et redistributions, 1901-1998. Paris: Grasset.Google Scholar
Registers of Transfers after Death (Registres de mutations par décès) Housed in various archives departementales (usually one repository per département), France.Google Scholar
Shorrocks, Anthony F. (1975) “The age-wealth relationship: A cross-section and cohort analysis.” Review of Economics and Statistics 57: 155–63.Google Scholar
Stourm, René (1912) Systèmes généraux d'impôts. Paris: Alcan.Google Scholar
Tables of Inheritances and Absent People (Tables des successions et absences) Housed in various archives departementales (usually one repository per département), France.Google Scholar
Tilly, Louise A., and Scott, Joan W. (1987) Women, Work, and Family. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Vallin, Jacques, and Graziella, Caselli (1999) “Quand l'Angleterre rattrapait la France.” Population et sociétés, no. 346: 1–4.Google Scholar
Wrigley, Edward A., and Roger, Schofield (1981) The Population History of England, 1541-1871. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar