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Wealth Transmission and Inequality among Hunter‐Gatherers

Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: We report quantitative estimates of intergenerational transmission and population-wide inequality for wealth measures in a set of hunter-gatherer populations. Wealth is defined broadly as factors that contribute to individual or household well-being, ranging from embodied forms such as weight and hunting success to material forms such household goods, as well as relational wealth in exchange partners. Intergenerational wealth transmission is low to moderate in these populations, but is still expected to have measurable influence on an individual's life chances. Wealth inequality (measured with Gini coefficients) is moderate for most wealth types, matching what qualitative ethnographic research has generally indicated (if not the stereotype of hunter-gatherers as extreme egalitarians). We discuss some plausible mechanisms for these patterns, and suggest ways in which future research could resolve questions about the role of wealth in hunter-gatherer social and economic life.
DOI: 10.1086/648530
Authors: Eric Alden Smith, Kim Hill, Frank W. Marlowe, David Nolin, Polly Wiessner, Michael Gurven, Samuel Bowles, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Tom Hertz, Adrian Bell
Institutions: University of Washington, Florida State University, University of Utah, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Fe Institute, University of California, Davis, International University College of Turin
Language: English
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, Santa Fe Institute, Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: Carolina Population Center, G1789099407, Population Research Training, The Human Life Course and the Biodemography of Aging, Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, Population Research Training
OpenAlex ID: W2125689441
FWCI: 37.18
Cites: 74
Cited by: 173
Related to: 10