Inheritance

About: Inheritance is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2696 publications have been published within this topic receiving 35166 citations. The topic is also known as: succession.

The inheritance of liability to certain diseases, estimated from the incidence among relatives

Abstract: It is now commonly recognized that many diseases that are not inherited in a simple manner have, nevertheless, some hereditary basis. The evidence that heredity plays some part comes from the observation that the incidence of the disease is higher among the relatives of affected individuals than it is in the general population. An increased incidence among relatives does not, however, go far toward providing an amwer to the important question of how strong the hereditary factor is, because the difference of incidence has no simple genetic interpretation. The relative importance of heredity and environment in such a case is clearly a problem of quantitative genetics. The usual methods of quantitative genetics, however, are not immediately applicable because these are based on correlations between relatives in respect of some ‘graded’ character measurable on a continuous scale Data in the form of incidences refer, in contrast, to an ‘all-or-none’ classification; individuals either have the disease or they do not. Though the affected individuals may sometimes be graded according to the degree of severity of their symptoms, the normal individuals, who are the majority, cannot be graded by the degree of their normality. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the method developed in quantitative genetics for dealing with ‘threshold characters ’ is applicable to data on the incidence of diseases, and that by its use we can get further towards an answer to the question of the relative importance of heredity and environment. (A fuller account of the method as applied in quantitative genetics will be found in Falconer, 1960.) The question of most general interest about the genetic causation of a disease that is not simply inherited is probably the relative importance of heredity as a causative agent. This questioii is meaningful only when stated in terms of amounts of variation; i.e. the variation between individuals that causes some to be affected and some not. What fraction of this variation is attributable to genetic differences between individuals? This fraction may be called the ‘degree of genetic determination ’. Unfortumtely the degree of genetic determination cannot be estimated from human data, unless possibly by the use of twins, but a related quantity, the heritability ’, can be estimated. The distinction between the degree of genetic determination and the heritability is as follows. Two kinds of genetic variation have to be distinguished, ‘additive’ and ‘non-additive’. The additiw genetic variance is attributable to the average effects of genes considered singly, as transmitted in the gametes. The non-additive genetic variance is attributable to the additional effects of these genes when combined in diploid genotypes. It therefore arises from dominance and interaction between genes at different loci ; if there is no dominance or interaction there can be no non-additive variance. The degree of

The Inheritance of Inequality

Abstract: How level is the intergenerational playing field? What are the causal mechanisms that underlie the intergenerational transmission of economic status? Are these mechanisms amenable to public policies in a way that would make the attainment of economic success more fair? These are the questions we will try to answer.

Entrepreneurial Decisions and Liquidity Constraints

Abstract: Using a matched sample of federal estate and personal income tax returns, we examine how the receipt of an inheritance affects an individual's decision to become an entrepreneur and the amount of capital employed in the new enterprise. These findings are consistent with the presence of liquidity constraints.

Chapter 11 The distribution of wealth

Abstract: This chapter is concerned with the distribution of personal wealth, which usually refers to the material assets that can be sold in the marketpace, although on occasion pension rights are also included. We summarise the available evidence on wealth distribution for a number of countries. This confirms the well known fact that wealth is more unequally distributed than income, and points to a long term downward trend in wealth inequality over most of the twentieth century. We also review the various theories that help account for these feature. Lifecycle accumulation is one popular explanation of wealth differences, but inheritance is also widely recognised as playing a major role, especially at the upper end of the wealth range. A recurrent theme in work on wealth distribution is the relative importance of these two sources of wealth differences. We discuss the results of studies that assess the contributions of inheritance and lifecycle factors, and give attention also to a variety of related issues, such as the link between wealth status across generations, and the possible motives for leaving bequests.

The gender asset gap: what do we know and why does it matter?

Abstract: Is there a gender asset gap? This article examines the evidence available on the distribution of wealth by gender around the world and asks why we do not know more. One of the contributions of feminist economics has been to demonstrate that household and individual welfare are not necessarily the same. However, relatively little work has been done that disaggregates the ownership of assets within the household to determine how asset distribution affects the gendered pattern of wealth ownership overall or how it impacts household decisions and women's well-being. As an initial step in this project, a number of factors are examined that affect women's ability to accumulate wealth, with emphasis on marital and inheritance regimes. Finally, the myriad ways in which the gender distribution of wealth is important are discussed.