In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825

This paper explores the possibilities that dowries may offer to study inequality in the pre-industrial era. We argue that, mostly, in rural societies with impartible inheritance, families competed to join the heir of an estate that would allow them to maintain or even improve their socio-economic st...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Mas Ferrer, Josep
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10256/23568
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10256/23568
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Dot
Capítols matrimonials
Marriage settlements
Herències i successions
Inheritance and succession
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spelling In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825En busca del marido ideal: ¿Es posible medir la desigualdad en la era preindustrial a través de las dotes? Nordeste de Cataluña, 1750-1825Mas Ferrer, JosepDotCapítols matrimonialsMarriage settlementsHerències i successionsInheritance and successionThis paper explores the possibilities that dowries may offer to study inequality in the pre-industrial era. We argue that, mostly, in rural societies with impartible inheritance, families competed to join the heir of an estate that would allow them to maintain or even improve their socio-economic status by means of paying the best possible dowry. Hence, dowries may be an indicator of family wealth and, therefore, disparities in dowry amounts could be informing about economic inequality. Then, we show the results of a case study based on a rural region in north-eastern Catalonia from 1750 to 1825, which suggest that over the last decades of the 18th century and the first quarter of the 19th century, inequality increased significantly. As it was a period of belli-cosity and inflation, our results suggest that political instability tended to increase inequality in pre-industrial societies, as it has been previously stated by some authorsEn este artículo exploramos las posibilidades que ofrecen las dotes para el estudio de la desigualdad durante la era preindustrial. Argumentamos que, especialmente, en las sociedades rural de herencia indivisa las familias competían, a través del pago de la mejor dote posible, para unirse al heredero de un patrimonio que les permitiese mantener o incluso mejorar su estatus socioeconómico. En consecuencia, las dotes serían un indicativo de la riqueza familiar, de modo que las disparidades en su distribución podrían informar sobre la desigualdad económica. Mostramos los resultados de un estudio de caso basado en una región rural del nordeste catalán entre 1750 y 1825, los cuales sugieren que durante la última década del siglo xviii y el primer cuarto del xix la desigualdad aumentó considerablemente. Dado que fue un periodo de belicosidad e inflación, nuestros resultados parecen coherentes con las tesis que consideran que la inestabilidad política era un elemento generador de desigualdad en las sociedades preindustrialesThis work is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and is also part of the research project from the Centre de Recerca d’Història Rural (University of Girona) entitled “¿Cam-bio social sin grupos sociales? El seguimiento de trayectorias colectivas en el pasado desde una perspectiva relacional (siglos xiv-xx)” (PGC2018-096350-B-100 and PRE2019-089410)Asociación Española de Historia EconómicaAgencia Estatal de Investigación2023info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionpeer-reviewedapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10256/23568http://hdl.handle.net/10256/23568Investigaciones de Historia Económica, 2023, vol. 19, núm. 3, p. 25-37Articles publicats (D-H)reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)Inglésinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.33231/j.ihe.2023.03.001info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1698-6989PGC2018-096350-B-I00info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/PGC2018-096350-B-I00Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:10256/235682026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825
En busca del marido ideal: ¿Es posible medir la desigualdad en la era preindustrial a través de las dotes? Nordeste de Cataluña, 1750-1825
title In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825
spellingShingle In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825
Mas Ferrer, Josep
Dot
Capítols matrimonials
Marriage settlements
Herències i successions
Inheritance and succession
title_short In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825
title_full In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825
title_fullStr In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825
title_full_unstemmed In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825
title_sort In search of the ideal husband: Could inequality in the pre-industrial era be measured through dowries? North-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Mas Ferrer, Josep
author Mas Ferrer, Josep
author_facet Mas Ferrer, Josep
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Agencia Estatal de Investigación
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Dot
Capítols matrimonials
Marriage settlements
Herències i successions
Inheritance and succession
topic Dot
Capítols matrimonials
Marriage settlements
Herències i successions
Inheritance and succession
description This paper explores the possibilities that dowries may offer to study inequality in the pre-industrial era. We argue that, mostly, in rural societies with impartible inheritance, families competed to join the heir of an estate that would allow them to maintain or even improve their socio-economic status by means of paying the best possible dowry. Hence, dowries may be an indicator of family wealth and, therefore, disparities in dowry amounts could be informing about economic inequality. Then, we show the results of a case study based on a rural region in north-eastern Catalonia from 1750 to 1825, which suggest that over the last decades of the 18th century and the first quarter of the 19th century, inequality increased significantly. As it was a period of belli-cosity and inflation, our results suggest that political instability tended to increase inequality in pre-industrial societies, as it has been previously stated by some authors
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
peer-reviewed
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10256/23568
http://hdl.handle.net/10256/23568
url http://hdl.handle.net/10256/23568
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.33231/j.ihe.2023.03.001
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1698-6989
PGC2018-096350-B-I00
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/PGC2018-096350-B-I00
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Asociación Española de Historia Económica
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Asociación Española de Historia Económica
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Investigaciones de Historia Económica, 2023, vol. 19, núm. 3, p. 25-37
Articles publicats (D-H)
reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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