A study by Gregory Clark and Neil Cummins found the family-size wealth association was no longer statistically significant among great-grandchildren, while wealth remained correlated across six generations of English family lines.
Published Oct. 15 in Review of Income and Wealth, the study uses the Families of England database, which covers 448,358 people with 510 rare surnames. Clark and Cummins examined English marriages before 1880 and measured wealth at death, focusing on descendants of fathers whose wealth was above average.
A higher initial adult-sibling count was associated with lower descendant wealth in the first two generations studied. For initial log adult-sibling count, the estimated coefficients were -0.413 for children and -0.219 for grandchildren; both estimates were statistically significant. The estimates were -0.086 for great-grandchildren and 0.136 for the fifth generation, and neither was statistically significant.
The authors’ explanation is that family size affected how much of a father’s estate each adult child received. Their analysis follows patrilineal lines because the database records complete fertility along that line; they also say sons generally inherited more than daughters.
Age and social-status controls explained 7% of the differences in family size. The authors said most of the variation could not be predicted by an observer outside the family.
Despite the fading family-size association, men in the first and sixth generations had a 0.20 correlation in log wealth at death. The comparison covered 539 cases, with average birth years of 1769 and 1925, respectively. Clark and Cummins suggest education and occupation may help explain why wealth remained correlated across generations, alongside transfers. The paper does not isolate one cause.
The researchers frame their question against debate over whether historic transfers, including British government compensation to slave owners, shaped wealth across generations. Their study does not assess those payments directly and concerns historical English family lines, not present-day household wealth.
