The hidden wealth of English dynasties, 1892–2016

Neil Cummins

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Using individual-level records of all wealth-at-death in England from 1892 to 1992, together with new estimates of the wealth-specific rate of return on wealth, this study estimates a plausible minimum level of the amount of inherited wealth that is hidden. Elites conceal around 35 per cent of their inheritance. Among dynasties, this hidden wealth, independent of declared wealth, predicts appearance in the Offshore Leaks Database of 2013–16 and is correlated with postcode house-value in 1999 and Oxbridge attendance in 1990–2016. Accounting for hidden wealth eliminates about 28 per cent, at minimum, of the observed decline of the top 1 per cent wealth-share, at the dynastic level, over the past century. Findings show 9 077 dynasties that are hiding £8.9 billion.

Keywords: hidden wealth; inequality; economic history; big data; tax evasion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 H26 N00 N33 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2022-08-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-iue and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Economic History Review, 1, August, 2022, 75(3), pp. 667 - 702. ISSN: 0013-0117

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Journal Article: The hidden wealth of English dynasties, 1892–2016 (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:113490

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