Project description DEENESFRITPL A closer look at how inheritance and demographics jointly affect economic development Was the French Revolution responsible for the first ever demographic transition? What were the relevant channels (partible inheritance and inclusion of women)? How did the abolition of the eldest son's exclusive right of inheritance affect the elites' demographic transition? How did the European marriage pattern (late marriages and high lifelong celibacy) vary across inheritance systems? How does land scarcity affect the relationship between inheritance practices, family structures and demographics? The EU-funded IDED project will answer these questions and more to uncover the effects of inheritance on economic outcomes. Specifically, it will create new databases for European countries between the 17th and 19th centuries and sub-Saharan African countries during the past century. The findings will shed light on wealth distribution and the implications of inheritances schemes for economic development. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Economists study inheritance and demographics in isolation, overlooking the feedback effects between the two. This is surprising given that other social scientists have typically related inheritance schemes to family structures. The general objective of this proposal is to understand the implications of these interconnections for the process of economic development. First, I will create new databases for European countries between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries and for Sub-Saharan African countries during the past century until today. These will allow to cover demographic transitions, a crucial stage in the development process in which drastic demographic changes occur, and the period before. These databases will allow establishing facts relating inheritance schemes, family structures and demographic variables. Second, I will propose structural models of inheritance, family structures, marriage and fertility in order to rationalize these facts. These models will assess the importance of the relationship between inheritance and demographics when studying the effect of inheritance on economic outcomes. The databases and structural models will provide answers to specific applied research questions: (i) The Demographic Transition: Was the French Revolution responsible for the demographic transition? What were the relevant channels (partible inheritance and inclusion of women)? How did the abolition of primogeniture affect the elites’ demographic transition? (ii) The European Marriage Pattern: how did its characteristics; late marriages and high life-long celibacy, vary across inheritance systems? Which one of these was most beneficial for gender empowerment? (iii) Sub-Saharan Africa’s demographic transitions: Can the harmonization of inheritance practices reactivate stalling demographic transitions? How does land scarcity affect the relationship between inheritance practices, family structures, and demographics? Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabaseshumanitieshistory and archaeologyhistorymodern historysocial sciencessociologyfamily studiessocial sciencespolitical sciencespolitical transitionsrevolutionssocial sciencessociologydemographyfertility Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-STG - ERC STARTING GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2020-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Coordinator UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES Net EU contribution € 1 376 916,00 Address Avenue franklin roosevelt 50 1050 Bruxelles Belgium See on map Region Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES Belgium Net EU contribution € 1 376 916,00 Address Avenue franklin roosevelt 50 1050 Bruxelles See on map Region Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
