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- Title
WOMEN, WEALTH AND INHERITANCE.
- Authors
Harbury, C. D.; Hitchens, D. M. W. N.
- Abstract
The Women's Liberation Movement has sparked off a great deal of research into the role of women in economic life, much of which was recently surveyed by Kahne and Kohen.[2] One aspect of women's role in the economy which has received scant attention, however, is their part in the distribution of personal wealth. This paper presents new evidence on the importance of inheritance, marriage and "entrepreneurship" in the creation of women's fortunes. This paper has considered the source of women's wealth and the marriage patterns of top wealth leaven. It appears to us that the most important conclusions are that: (1) Wedgwood's observations on the sources of women's property in the 1920s remain valid: only a very small minority of women (no more than 5 %) accumulated their wealth through what is generally regarded as "entrepreneurship"; and (2) some 60 % of rich sons (daughters) of rich fathers marry daughters (sons) from wealthy families.
- Subjects
UNITED States; UNITED Kingdom; ECONOMIC conditions of women; WEALTH; DEMOGRAPHY; LONGEVITY; LIFE expectancy
- Publication
Economic Journal, 1977, Vol 87, Issue 345, p124
- ISSN
0013-0133
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2231837