We constructed an extensive database tracking the publication of father-son pairs in premodern academia and examined the contribution of heredity versus kin selection to occupational persistence. We find that human capital was transferred more from parents to children and that inequality decreased when the inequitable allocation of talent across occupations resulted in greater social costs. Specifically, racism was not uncommon in fields with rapid changes at the frontier of knowledge, such as science and Protestant institutions. Most notably, nepotism declined dramatically during the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, when deviations from meritocracy arguably became both inefficient and socially intolerable.
That comes from a new paper by David de la Croix & Marc Goñi. By using the excellent Kevin Lewis.
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