The richest families in Florence in 1427 are still the richest families in Florence

[spinbaby]

The richest families in Florence, Italy have had it good for a while—600 years to be precise.
That’s according to a recent study by two Italian economists, Guglielmo Barone and Sauro Mocetti, who after analyzing compared Florentine taxpayers way back in 1427 to those in 2011. Comparing the family wealth to those with the same surname today, they suggest the richest families in Florence 600 years ago remain the same now.

(Snip)


The study adds further evidence on how the rich remain rich. In England, researchers have previously demonstrated how a family’s status in England can persist for more than eight centuries, or more than 28 whole generations. It’s a trait shared by elite families in China, whose high status has persisted since the Mao years.


http://qz.com/694340/the-richest-families-in-florence-in-1427-are-still-the-richest-families-in-florence/?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=mentalfloss

[malthaussen]

1. Well, yeah.

Provided some heir doesn't piss it all down the drain, wealth will tend to accumulate. Especially real wealth, which is why entail exists.

It's a matter of inheritance customs, ultimately. If an estate is not divided among several heirs, then it will continue to accrue. Even if, say, a Donald Trump is in charge, making dumb business deals and feeding his ridiculous ego. The flip side of "it takes money to make money" is that, if you already have a lot of it, it takes quite a bit of effort to lose it.

-- Mal

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. ... and all Presidents except one are descended from King John. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Probably all of them are; it just sounds as if they couldn't prove it for one

Most British people will be descended from him (about 30 generations back; if none of your ancestors intermarried, then that would give you a set of ancestors of about a billion - larger than the entire world's population at that time); it's just a question of how far back you can trace each line of ancestry. More than about 200 years ago, recording births was optional, and done more or less totally by the church, so it depends on the class you ancestors were in, and how keen the local vicar was on recording baptisms.

Who is the president thought to be the exception, by the way?

On edit - I see it was Martin Van Buren, because his ancestry was Dutch. OK, that's believable.

[Warpy]

3. That's depressing

This is why inheritance taxes on large fortunes are vital. It's also why this country needs to crack down on phony foundations that exist to give heirs fat salaries in perpetuity.

Otherwise, we keep an aristocracy, something most of our ancestors fled Europe to escape.

[Chan790]

4. We both know this, and yet, we can't do anything about it.

The tax-rate on large inheritances needs to go up and yet, they keep cutting the rate and parading the one poor person they can find who is cash-poor and will have to sell something like the family farm because of the taxes. That's not an argument to lower the rate though...it should be an argument for possibly looking at raising the rate of exemption from inheritance taxes.

I'm calling for 90% on inheritance over $10,000,000 and 20% on inheritance between $3,000,000 - $9,999,999. Hell, make it payable over 10 years...but let's stop pretending this is anything other than a scam by the very-wealthy to insure vast cross-generational wealth.