Discussion paper

DP18764 Matriline versus Patriline: Social Mobility in England, 1754-2023

If social outcomes have social causation, mothers and fathers in different societies will have different effects on child outcomes. Social mobility rates on the patriline will differ from that on the matriline. From an extensive family lineage of 426,552 persons in England 1650-2023 we estimate the influence of mothers versus fathers on social outcomes 1754-2023. Mothers’ and fathers’ education and social status are equally predictive of most child social outcomes across the entire period, even for the patriarchical society of eighteenth-nineteenth century England. Only for wealth was there a much stronger influence of the patriline.

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Citation

Clark, G and N Cummins (2024), ‘DP18764 Matriline versus Patriline: Social Mobility in England, 1754-2023‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 18764. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp18764