300 Years of Housing Wealth Mobility: The City-State of Basel, 1500–1800

Jonas M. Geweke, Niccolò G. Armandola and Paul Goetz
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Jonas M. Geweke: University of Zurich
Niccolò G. Armandola: University of Zurich
Paul Goetz: University of Zurich

No 312, Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES)

Abstract: A lack of research on preindustrial wealth mobility has hindered our understanding of the extent and mechanisms through which preindustrial wealth was transmitted across generations. This paper studies homeownership and housing wealth mobility in the city-state of Basel (1500–1800). Using a database of over 40,000 father–son pairs, we apply linear probability and rank-rank regression models to find homeownership and housing wealth persistence across six generations. We identify three transmission mechanisms: direct inheritance, assortative mating, and political officeholding. Finally, we observe higher mobility rates in the sixteenth century compared to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Keywords: mobility; inequality; wealth; preindustrial Switzerland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 J62 N33 N93 R31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hes:wpaper:0312

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