The issue of how elites as a social group form, maintain their position, and influence the society they control is central to the debate on inequality. This paper studies one of the most extremely unequal societies ever recorded — the sugar-based economies in the West Indies — by focusing on the island of St. Croix in the Danish West Indies and examines the emergence and persistence of its economic elite. The study relies on a novel dataset that covers the entire population of the island over 154 years, allowing for a long-run analysis of elite persistence and the effects of significant economic, institutional, and social changes. Our study shows that elite persistence remained high in global comparison throughout the period of interest, despite several 'critical junctures'. These junctures only had a temporary effect. We contend that this result can be attributed to three mechanisms of persistence: inheritance, institutional co-optation and limited franchise. Finally, we find that although the Crucian elite maintained its relative standing, it came at the cost of severe impoverishment in absolute terms.

中文翻译：

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1760-1914 年丹麦西印度群岛的精英坚持和不平等


精英作为一个社会群体如何形成、维持他们的地位并影响他们控制的社会，这是关于不平等的辩论的核心。本文通过关注丹麦西印度群岛的圣克罗伊岛，研究了有史以来最不平等的社会之一——西印度群岛的以糖为基础的经济，并研究了其经济精英的出现和持续存在。该研究依赖于一个涵盖该岛 154 年全部人口的新数据集，从而可以对精英的持久性以及重大经济、制度和社会变化的影响进行长期分析。我们的研究表明，尽管存在几个“关键时刻”，但在整个感兴趣的时间段内，精英的持久性在全球范围内仍然很高。这些关头只是暂时的。我们认为，这一结果可以归因于三种持久性机制：继承、机构收编和有限特许权。最后，我们发现，尽管鲫鱼精英保持了其相对地位，但从绝对值来看，它是以严重贫困为代价的。