A loveless economy? Intergenerational altruism and the marriage market in a Tuscan town, 1415-1436

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Boston University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050700022300
• 发表日期: 1999
• 页码: 104-121
• 关键词: dowry; florence

摘要

This article examines the role of dowries and highlights the variables that affected the size of dowries in fifteenth-century Tuscany. The estimation, which matches the households found in the marriage contracts with the corresponding households in the Florentine Catasto of 1427, offers support for the present net value hypothesis and for the altruism model. Results indicate a positive correlation between a bride's dowry size and her age when used as proxy for her contribution to the marital house hold. Parents also provided their daughters with larger dowries when they married down into relatively less wealthy or socially prominent households.