 Lady and the Trump: Status and Wealth in the Marriage MarketJohan Almenberg and Anna Dreber Kyklos, 2009, vol. 62, issue 2, 161-181 Abstract: Indicators of past wealth –‘old money’– typically bestow prestige and contribute to high status. Nobility, a culturally determined, hereditary status marker, might act as such an indicator, and thereby serve as a vehicle for the cultural transmission of economic standing. As an institution, nobility is an anachronism. Status, however, plays an important role in most societies, making individuals allocate valuable resources to status‐enhancing activities. This suggests that even though nobility no longer entails formal privileges, it may continue to be coveted as a status marker. We examine the relative performance of nobility in the marriage market. Data on Swedish marriages provide an opportunity to test the hypothesis that the probability of hypergamy (marrying ‘up’) in terms of wealth increases when an individual belongs to the nobility. Our main finding is a significantly higher probability of hypergamy for members of the nobility, controlling for own wealth and other covariates. This ‘nobility premium’ is sizeable. The effect is statistically significant and robust to a number of different measures of hypergamy. This finding has implications for the intergenerational transmission of inequality, and for the longevity of the institution of nobility itself. Date: 2009 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:62:y:2009:i:2:p:161-181 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Kyklos is currently edited by Rene L. Frey More articles in Kyklos from Wiley Blackwell |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.