A new version of this entry is available:
Loading...
ResearchPaper
2019
The fetters of inheritance? Equal partition and regional economic development
The fetters of inheritance? Equal partition and regional economic development
Abstract (English)
How can agricultural inheritance traditions affect structural change and economic development in rural areas? The most prominent historical traditions are primogeniture, where the oldest son inherits the whole farm, and equal partition, where land is split and each heir inherits an equal share. In this paper, we provide a theoretical model that links these inheritance traditions to the local allocation of labor and capital and to municipal development. First, we show that among contemporary municipalities in West Germany, equal partition is significantly related to measures of economic development. Second, we conduct OLS and fuzzy spatial RDD estimates for Baden-Württemberg in the 1950s and today. We find that inheritance rules caused, in line with our theoretical predictions, higher incomes, population densities, and industrialization levels in areas with equal partition. Results suggest that more than a third of the overall inter-regional difference in average per capita income in present-day Baden-Württemberg, or 597 Euro, can be explained by equal partition.
File is subject to an embargo until
This is a correction to:
A correction to this entry is available:
This is a new version of:
Notes
Publication license
Publication series
Hohenheim discussion papers in business, economics and social sciences; 2019,09
Published in
Faculty
Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Institute
Institute of Economics
Examination date
Supervisor
Edition / version
Citation
Identification
DOI
ISSN
ISBN
Language
English
Publisher
Publisher place
Classification (DDC)
330 Economics
Original object
Standardized keywords (GND)
BibTeX
@techreport{Wahl2019,
url = {https://hohpublica.uni-hohenheim.de/handle/123456789/6433},
author = {Wahl, Fabian and Huning, Thilo R.},
title = {The fetters of inheritance? Equal partition and regional economic development},
year = {2019},
school = {Universität Hohenheim},
series = {Hohenheim discussion papers in business, economics and social sciences},
}