The hidden wealth of English dynasties, 1892–2016

Cummins, Neil ORCID: 0000-0001-7328-2967 (2022) The hidden wealth of English dynasties, 1892–2016. Economic History Review, 75 (3). 667 - 702. ISSN 0013-0117

Text (Cummins2021_EHR_28_July_Accepted_Version) - Accepted Version Download (2MB)

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14680289
Additional Information:	© 2022 Economic History Society
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
JEL classification:	N - Economic History > N0 - General > N00 - General N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income, and Wealth > N33 - Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income and Wealth: Europe: Pre-1913 N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income, and Wealth > N34 - Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income and Wealth: Europe: 1913- D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H26 - Tax Evasion
Date Deposited:	20 Jan 2022 16:39
Last Modified:	16 Nov 2024 07:42
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/113490

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