Variations of wealth resemblance by family relationship types in modern Chinese families

C. Y. Cyrus Chu (), Kamhon Kan () and Jou Chun Lin
Additional contact information
C. Y. Cyrus Chu: Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
Jou Chun Lin: Department of Economics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019, vol. 116, issue 14, 6548-6553

Abstract: For a long time, social scientists have used correlations in social status, measured by such characteristics as schooling, income, or occupation, across family members to capture family resemblance in social status. In this study, we use millions of records from a public registry to estimate the wealth correlations among Taiwanese kinship members, from the closest parent–child pairing to the farthest kinship ties, with only 1/32 genetic relatedness. Based on this wealth correlation, we present a complete picture of economic similarity among kin members. These correlations give us a better grasp of the hitherto obscure Chinese family structure than that of mechanical genetic relatedness. We obtain statistical evidence to support the following hypotheses: Family members’ wealth resemblance to male egos is stronger than to female egos, wealth correlations are larger along patrilineal lines than along matrilineal counterparts, wealthy families have larger correlations within the nuclear family members but smaller correlations outside it, and adopted children have weaker wealth resemblance with close relatives.

Keywords: family network; kinship; intergenerational wealth correlation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.pnas.org/content/116/14/6548.full (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nas:journl:v:116:y:2019:p:6548-6553

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by PNAS Product Team ().