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Inheritance Institutions and Landholding Inequality in Nineteenth-Century Germany: Evidence from Hesse-Cassel Villages and Towns

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  • Wegge, Simone A.

Abstract

This paper considers the German principality of Hesse-Cassel in the 1850s, comparing inheritance institutions and landholding inequality for roughly a thousand mostly agricultural villages and towns. The principality lay between impartible northern Europe and the partible southwest. Inequality in landholding size is measured, showing an average Gini of 0.615 and substantial variation across communities. Places with relatively larger populations and ones that practiced impartible inheritance had mostly higher wealth inequality. The main result is that inheritance norms played a role in causing higher landholding inequality. Higher emigration rates in the impartible communities helped to alleviate landholding inequality.

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  • Wegge, Simone A., 2021. "Inheritance Institutions and Landholding Inequality in Nineteenth-Century Germany: Evidence from Hesse-Cassel Villages and Towns," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(3), pages 909-942, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:81:y:2021:i:3:p:909-942_8
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    Cited by:

    1. Alfani, Guido & Gierok, Victoria & Schaff, Felix, 2022. "Economic Inequality in Preindustrial Germany, ca. 1300–1850," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(1), pages 87-125, March.
    2. Süß, Karolin, 2023. "Long-term effects of historical inheritance customs on household formation and gender disparities," Ruhr Economic Papers 1038, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    3. Boberg-Fazlić, Nina & Lampe, Markus & Sharp, Paul, 2024. "The sleeping giant who left for America: Danish land inequality and emigration during the age of mass migration," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Guido Alfani & Hector García Montero, 2022. "Wealth inequality in pre‐industrial England: A long‐term view (late thirteenth to sixteenth centuries)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1314-1348, November.
    5. Thilo N. H. Albers & Felix Kersting & Timo Stieglitz, 2023. "Industrialization, Returns, Inequality," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 462, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    6. Adrián Palacios-Mateo, 2024. "Explaining pre-industrial inequality in Navarre and Aragon in the mid-19th century," Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria 2402, Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria.
    7. de Zwart, Pim & Soekhradj, Phylicia, 2023. "Sweet equality: Sugar, property rights, and land distribution in colonial Java," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    8. Dexian Chen & Hao Hu & Chengxiao Song & Hang Lv, 2022. "Land Inequality and Its Influencing Factors in Rural China in Modern Times: A Systematic Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-21, July.

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