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Nepotism vs. Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital in Academia (1088--1800)

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  • de la Croix, David
  • Goñi, Marc

Abstract

We argue that the waning of nepotism in academia bolstered scientific production in pre-industrial Europe. We build a database of families of scholars (1088-1800), measure their scientific output, and develop a general method to disentangle nepotism from inherited human capital -two determinants of occupational persistence. This requires jointly addressing measurement error in human capital proxies and sample selection bias arising from nepotism. Our method exploits multi-generation correlations together with parent-child distributional differences to identify the structural parameters of a first-order Markov process of human capital transmission with nepotism. We find an intergenerational human capital elasticity of 0.59, higher than that suggested by parent-child elasticities, yet lower than multi-generation estimates ignoring nepotism. On average, 16 percent of scholars' sons achieved their position because of nepotism. Nepotism was lower in science than in law and in Protestant than in Catholic institutions, and declined during the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment---two periods of buoyant scientific advancement.

Suggested Citation

  • de la Croix, David & Goñi, Marc, 2020. "Nepotism vs. Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital in Academia (1088--1800)," CEPR Discussion Papers 15159, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15159
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intergenerational mobility; Human capital transmission; Nepotism; University scholars; Upper-tail human capital; Pre-industrial europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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