Video: Black aristocracy: The list of the rich in Florence has the same surnames as 600 years ago
2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55
Guglielmo Barone and Sauro Mosetti, economists at the main financial institution in the Apennines, Bank of Italy, conducted an unusual study. They went to the archives of Florence, checked the data on the Florentine taxpayers in 1427 and compared them with the data of the Tax Office of Florence for 2011. The results surprised the researchers themselves: among the wealthiest taxpayers of the 15th and 21st centuries, almost 900 names coincide.
The study, of course, took a lot of time, but it was not so difficult due to the peculiarity of the Italian surnames. Using them, you can easily establish the place of birth of a person, and they hardly change over the centuries. Barone and Mosetti came to the conclusion that by the occupation, income and condition of today's Florentines, it is possible to accurately predict the occupation, income and condition of their distant ancestors, and vice versa.
Banking economists shared the results of their interesting research on the economic website VoxEU: "We have established that the wealthiest taxpayers in Florence six centuries ago bore the same names as the wealthiest taxpayers today."
The year 1427 was chosen as the comparison date for a reason. In those days, Florence waged a protracted war with Milan and was on the verge of bankruptcy. As a result of the plight of city finances, the Florentine authorities decided to conduct a census of approximately 10,000 taxpayers. The documents, in addition to the names and surnames of the heads of families, contain a description of their professions, income and fortunes.
About 900 of the names included in the 1427 census still exist in Florence and still pay high taxes. Of course, there are also random coincidences among them, but most of the representatives of the same surnames are in any case not namesakes, but relatives.
The analysis shows that the socioeconomic status has been preserved over six centuries, surprisingly clearly. Wealthy Florentines at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century have the same surnames as the rich in 1427. In this case, professions and incomes coincide. For example, among the members of the Shoemakers Guild, the match is 97%, and the Silk Weavers and Lawyers Guild - 93!
Of course, fortunes are inherited in the same way as professions are often. A study in Japan showed that the descendants of the samurai, even almost a century and a half after their formal disappearance as a layer of Japanese society, remain among the Japanese elite. The amazing preservation of wealth and social status, economist from the University of California Gregory Clarke even dedicated the book "The Rise of a Son."
In the case of the Florentines, it is not so much the fact of preservation of wealth and social status that is more surprising than the fact that we are talking about a period of time lasting almost 600 years, i.e. 25 generations.
This suggests parallels with research by the French economist Thomas Piketty, who looked at the rise in income inequality among the richest 1%. However, Italian economists deny that there is any connection between their study and Piketty's.
“Our research focuses on economic mobility, i.e. The question of whether the rich remain rich over time, Mosetti told the Wall Street Journal, doesn't necessarily mean they get richer. We did not find a direct connection with Piketty's conclusion that material inequality only increases over time.”
Barone and Mosetti explain that the rich are more likely to remain rich over time by the existence of what they call "a glass floor that protects the descendants of rich people from falling off the economic ladder."
In addition, the study of Italian economists involved not only the richest 1% of Florentines. They analyzed the entire population of the city and came to the conclusion that 33% of the Florentine rich in 1427, i.e. every third, remain wealthy now, in our days.
See also the film: The Corporation is an indomitable monster
Recommended:
URALSKY NIK VUYCHICH 150 YEARS AGO - Nikolay Kobelkov - made a million and became the father of 11 children
A man without arms and legs … Many immediately imagine the motivational speaker and author of many books, Nick Vuychich. But the most amazing thing is that not so long ago, by historical standards, there lived a man with an equally amazing fate, and with Russian roots
What was life on Earth millions of years ago?
The "secret" life in the previous era was also very diverse, giving rise to, among other things, gigantic forms. Discovering the secrets of this incredibly ancient fauna was made possible by discoveries made in Russia
Who killed the electric car? Yes, even 20 years ago?
Now we will show you, using the example of an electric car killed 20 years ago, how the control of inventions works, and how influential people are changing the technological chronicle of the planet
The Rus owned all of Central Europe only 600-700 years ago?
Few of the modern Russian people have heard that their direct ancestors the Russians inhabited all of Central Europe relatively recently, by historical standards, only 600-700 years ago. The lands of present-day Germany, Austria, Northern Italy. On the geographical map of modern Europe, you can find thousands, tens of thousands of footprints, which invisibly speak of the terrible tragedy of our ancestors - the Rus of the West
Einstein is a plagiarist ?! He is the same "Jewish star" as Kazimir Malevich, the author of the painting "Black Square"
Albert Einstein had "cognitive dissonance" - this is when a person contradicts himself in two different judgments about the same subject of discussion. The famous physicist contradicted himself in the first postulate of "GRT" and in the tenth postulate of "SRT"