La “Doña” è Mobile: The Role of Women in Social Mobility in a Pre-Modern Economy

Abstract

We use data from marriage records in Murcia, Spain, in the eighteenth century to study the role of women in social mobility in the pre-modern era. Our measure of social standing is identification as a don or doña, an honorific denoting high, though not necessarily noble, status. We show that this measure, which is acquired over the lifecycle, shows gendered transmission patterns. In particular, same-sex transmission is stronger than opposite-sex, for both sons and daughters. The relative transmission from fathers versus mothers varies over the lifecycle, and grandparents may affect the status of their grandchildren.

Intergenerational Mobility of Daughters and Marital Sorting: New Evidence from Imperial China

“…A juren working in the civil administration of China would typically be in the top 1.5 percent of the status distribution (status level 3), while a civil jinshi would belong to the top 0.2% of the status distribution. 28 Status in society translated into income and wealth. There is no systematic information on the income or wealth of individual men, but having passed a certain level of degree made a person eligible for a certain level of official position.…”