IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/sf6vj.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The increasing influence of siblings in social mobility. A long-term historical view (Barcelona area, 16th-19th centuries)

Author

Listed:
  • Pujadas-Mora, Joana-Maria
  • Brea-Martinez, Gabriel

Abstract

Parental influence over children’s status attainment has historically been argued to be key. However, the cross-sibling influence has been scarcely studied for historical periods and for steam family societies, being the most long-lasting relationship across individuals’ lives once childhood was surpassed. We investigate how intra-generational family relationships determine the social destiny of siblings taking a long-term perspective (16th and the 19th centuries) for Barcelona and its hinterland, using the unique data compiled in the Barcelona Historical Marriage Database. This region was one of the most dynamic economic area in Southern Europe. We found the emergence of the figure of first-married siblings as determinants in the status attainment of other brothers and sisters and a decline in parental influence from the 18th century onwards for all social groups, denying a sibling competing model. This influence worked differently over time depending on sex. First-born sisters with exogamous marriages had a higher influence than first-married brothers on the social mobility of the rest of siblings along the 16th and 17th century. Conversely, from the 18th century onwards, first-married brothers had a higher ascendancy than first-married sisters. Sibship size and the siblings’ marriage order did not contribute to explain these effects. These results can be interpreted in light of an increase in life expectancy of adult population and a change in the occupational structure due to an early industrialization and in affectivity in the18th century.

Suggested Citation

  • Pujadas-Mora, Joana-Maria & Brea-Martinez, Gabriel, 2020. "The increasing influence of siblings in social mobility. A long-term historical view (Barcelona area, 16th-19th centuries)," SocArXiv sf6vj, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:sf6vj
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/sf6vj
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/5fda064af0df54041c2f0bf1/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/sf6vj?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Becker, Gary S & Tomes, Nigel, 1976. "Child Endowments and the Quantity and Quality of Children," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 143-162, August.
    2. Hilde Bras & Jan Kok & Kees Mandemakers, 2010. "Sibship size and status attainment across contexts: Evidence from the Netherlands, 1840-1925," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 23(4), pages 73-104.
    3. Dribe, Martin & Helgertz, Jonas, 2016. "The Lasting Impact of Grandfathers: Class, Occupational Status, and Earnings over Three Generations in Sweden 1815–2011," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(4), pages 969-1000, December.
    4. Adrian Adermon & Mikael Lindahl & Daniel Waldenström, 2018. "Intergenerational Wealth Mobility and the Role of Inheritance: Evidence from Multiple Generations," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 482-513, July.
    5. Miles Corak, 2013. "Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 79-102, Summer.
    6. Gabriel Brea-Martínez & Joana-Maria Pujadas-Mora, 2019. "Estimating long-term socioeconomic inequality in southern Europe: The Barcelona area, 1481–1880," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 23(4), pages 397-420.
    7. Schneider, Eric B., 2013. "Real wages and the family: Adjusting real wages to changing demography in pre-modern England," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 99-115.
    8. Rosés, Joan R., 1998. "Measuring the contribution of human capital to the development of the Catalan factory system (1830–61)," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 25-48, April.
    9. Xi Song & Catherine G. Massey & Karen A. Rolf & Joseph P. Ferrie & Jonathan L. Rothbaum & Yu Xie, 2020. "Long-term decline in intergenerational mobility in the United States since the 1850s," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(1), pages 251-258, January.
    10. Mikael Lindahl & Mårten Palme & Sofia Sandgren Massih & Anna Sjögren, 2015. "Long-Term Intergenerational Persistence of Human Capital: An Empirical Analysis of Four Generations," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(1), pages 1-33.
    11. Steven Haider & Gary Solon, 2006. "Life-Cycle Variation in the Association between Current and Lifetime Earnings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(4), pages 1308-1320, September.
    12. Ingrid K. van Dijk & Angelique Janssens & Ken R. Smith, 2019. "The Long Harm of Childhood: Childhood Exposure to Mortality and Subsequent Risk of Adult Mortality in Utah and The Netherlands," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(5), pages 851-871, December.
    13. Paul S. Lambert & Richard L. Zijdeman & Marco H. D. Van Leeuwen & Ineke Maas & Kenneth Prandy, 2013. "The Construction of HISCAM: A Stratification Scale Based on Social Interactions for Historical Comparative Research," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 77-89, June.
    14. Karhula, Aleksi & Erola, Jani & Raab, Marcel & Fasang, Anette Eva, 2019. "Destination as a process: Sibling similarity in early socioeconomic trajectories," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 40, pages 85-98.
    15. Antonie Knigge, 2016. "Beyond the Parental Generation: The Influence of Grandfathers and Great-grandfathers on Status Attainment," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(4), pages 1219-1244, August.
    16. Rebecca Sear & David Coall, 2011. "How Much Does Family Matter? Cooperative Breeding and the Demographic Transition," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 37(Supplemen), pages 81-112, January.
    17. Gregory Clark, 2015. "The Son Also Rises: Surnames and the History of Social Mobility," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10181-2.
    18. Jan Van Bavel & Sarah Moreels & Bart Van de Putte & Koen Matthijs, 2011. "Family size and intergenerational social mobility during the fertility transition," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 24(14), pages 313-344.
    19. Benjamin G. Gibbs & Joseph Workman & Douglas B. Downey, 2016. "The (Conditional) Resource Dilution Model: State- and Community-Level Modifications," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 723-748, June.
    20. Martin Dribe & Jonas Helgertz, 2015. "The lasting impact of grandfathers: class, occupational status, and earnings over three generations (Sweden, 1815-2010)," Working Papers 15027, Economic History Society.
    21. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Kieron Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2017. "The effect of number of siblings on adult mortality: Evidence from Swedish registers for cohorts born between 1938 and 1972," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(1), pages 43-63, January.
    23. Marcel Raab & Anette Fasang & Aleksi Karhula & Jani Erola, 2014. "Sibling Similarity in Family Formation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2127-2154, December.
    24. Xi Song & Robert D. Mare, 2019. "Shared Lifetimes, Multigenerational Exposure, and Educational Mobility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(3), pages 891-916, June.
    25. Jason Long & Joseph Ferrie, 2013. "Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in Great Britain and the United States since 1850," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(4), pages 1109-1137, June.
    26. Torkild Lyngstad & Alexia Prskawetz, 2010. "Do siblings’ fertility decisions influence each other?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(4), pages 923-934, November.
    27. Martin Dribe & Christer Lundh, 2010. "Marriage choices and social reproduction," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 22(14), pages 347-382.
    28. Vida Maralani, 2008. "The changing relationship between family size and educational attainment over the course of socioeconomic development: Evidence from Indonesia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(3), pages 693-717, August.
    29. Julio Martínez-Galarraga & Marc Prat, 2016. "Wages, prices, and technology in early Catalan industrialization," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(2), pages 548-574, May.
    30. Steven Ruggles, 2010. "Stem Families and Joint Families in Comparative Historical Perspective," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(3), pages 563-577, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adrian Adermon & Mikael Lindahl & Daniel Waldenström, 2018. "Intergenerational Wealth Mobility and the Role of Inheritance: Evidence from Multiple Generations," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 482-513, July.
    2. Adrian Adermon & Mikael Lindahl & Mårten Palme, 2021. "Dynastic Human Capital, Inequality, and Intergenerational Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(5), pages 1523-1548, May.
    3. Dribe, Martin & Eriksson, Björn & Scalone, Francesco, 2019. "Migration, marriage and social mobility: Women in Sweden 1880–1900," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 93-111.
    4. Martin Dribe & Jonas Helgertz & Bart van de Putte, 2012. "Intergenerational social mobility during modernisation: a micro-level study of a community in southern Sweden 1830-1968," Working Papers 12013, Economic History Society.
    5. Berger, Thor & Engzell, Per & Eriksson, Björn & Molinder, Jakob, 2023. "Social Mobility in Sweden before the Welfare State," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 83(2), pages 431-463, June.
    6. Martin Nybom & Jan Stuhler, 2019. "Steady-state assumptions in intergenerational mobility research," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(1), pages 77-97, March.
    7. Bütikofer, Aline & Dalla-Zuanna, Antonio & Salvanes, Kjell G., 2018. "Breaking the Links: Natural Resource Booms and Intergenerational Mobility," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 19/2018, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    8. Ea Hoppe Blaabæk & Mads Meier Jæger & Joseph Molitoris, 2020. "Family Size and Educational Attainment: Cousins, Contexts, and Compensation," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(3), pages 575-600, July.
    9. Jørgen Modalsli, 2023. "Multigenerational Persistence: Evidence from 146 Years of Administrative Data," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(3), pages 929-961.
    10. Brea-Martinez, Gabriel & Pujadas-Mora, Joana-Maria, 2022. "Inequality in social mobility in Southern Europe. Evidence of Class Ceiling in the area of Barcelona, 16th-19th centuries," OSF Preprints 74qr9, Center for Open Science.
    11. Ian Lundberg, 2020. "Does Opportunity Skip Generations? Reassessing Evidence From Sibling and Cousin Correlations," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1193-1213, August.
    12. Shuang Chen, 2020. "Parental Investment After the Birth of a Sibling: The Effect of Family Size in Low-Fertility China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2085-2111, December.
    13. Brea-Martinez, Gabriel, 2021. "The beneficial impact of mother’s work on children’s absolute income mobility, Southern Sweden (1947-2015)," SocArXiv c27s8, Center for Open Science.
    14. Giacomin Favre & Joël Floris & Ulrich Woitek, 2018. "Intergenerational mobility in the 19th century: micro-level evidence from the city of Zurich," ECON - Working Papers 274, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    15. Jørgen Modalsli, 2017. "Intergenerational Mobility in Norway, 1865–2011," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(1), pages 34-71, January.
    16. Shiue, Carol, 2019. "Social Mobility in the Long Run: A Temporal Analysis of China from 1300 to 1900," CEPR Discussion Papers 13589, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Colagrossi, Marco & d’Hombres, Béatrice & Schnepf, Sylke V, 2020. "Like (grand)parent, like child? Multigenerational mobility across the EU," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    18. You, Jing & Ding, Xinxin & Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel & Wang, Sangui, 2021. "The intergenerational impact of house prices on education: evidence from China," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    19. Zachary Ward, 2023. "Intergenerational Mobility in American History: Accounting for Race and Measurement Error," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(12), pages 3213-3248, December.
    20. Barbara Castillo Rico, 2020. "Trends in intergenerational homeownership mobility in France between 1960-2015," AMSE Working Papers 2008, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:sf6vj. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.