title: Intergenerational wealth transmission and the dynamics of inequality in small-scale societies.
abstract: Small-scale human societies range from foraging bands with a strong egalitarian ethos to more economically stratified agrarian and pastoral societies. We explain this variation in inequality using a dynamic model in which a population's long-run steady-state level of inequality depends on the extent to which its most important forms of wealth are transmitted within families across generations. We estimate the degree of intergenerational transmission of three different types of wealth (material, embodied, and relational), as well as the extent of wealth inequality in 21 historical and contemporary populations. We show that intergenerational transmission of wealth and wealth inequality are substantial among pastoral and small-scale agricultural societies (on a par with or even exceeding the most unequal modern industrial economies) but are limited among horticultural and foraging peoples (equivalent to the most egalitarian of modern industrial populations). Differences in the technology by which a people derive their livelihood and in the institutions and norms making up the economic system jointly contribute to this pattern.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. mborgerhoffmulder@ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borgerhoff Mulder
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bowles
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hertz
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beise
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Ila
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fazzio
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gurven
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Hooper
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Irons
authors.forename: Hillard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leonetti
authors.forename: Bobbi
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Low
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marlowe
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McElreath
authors.forename: Suresh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naidu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nolin
authors.forename: Patrizio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piraino
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quinlan
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schniter
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sear
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shenk
authors.forename: Eric Alden
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: von Rueden
authors.forename: Polly
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wiessner
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D006801:Humans; D018803:Models, Economic; D012923:Social Class