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Survival of the Richest? Social Status, Fertility, and Social Mobility in England 1541-1824Nina Boberg-FazlicUniversity of Copenhagen - Department of Economics Paul Richard SharpUniversity of Southern Denmark - Department of Business and Economics Jacob Louis WeisdorfUniversity of Copenhagen - Department of Economics January, 31 2011 Univ. of Copenhagen Dept. of Economics Discussion Paper No. 11-02 Abstract: We use data collected by the Cambridge Group to investigate and explain differences in fertility by socio-economic group in pre-industrial England. We find, in line with results presented by Greg Clark, that wealthier groups did indeed have higher fertility until the 1700s. We demonstrate that this had to do with earlier age at marriage for women. We then turn to the likely social and economic impact of this, considering Clark’s hypothesis that ‘middle class values’ spread through English society prior to the industrial revolution. Through the construction of social mobility tables, we demonstrate that the children of the rich were indeed spreading through society, but they were small in number relative to poorer sections of society, and moreover the children of the poor were also entering the middle classes.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 31 Keywords: demography, pre-industrial England, fertility, social mobility, survival of the richest JEL Classification: N33 working papers seriesDate posted: February 1, 2011Suggested CitationContact Information
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