This paper uses Japanese village censuses, 1637–1872, to measure inequality in landownership. Surprisingly, inequality was low and stable, unlike in Europe, where it was high and increasing. To explain this, I study inter-generational land transmissions. I find that Japanese households without sons adopted male heirs, thereby keeping lands in the family. In contrast, elite English male lines failed 20–30 percent of the time as adoptions were uncommon, leading to a highly unequal redistribution of their lands. Finally, the institutional differences in adoption had roots in fourth-century church policy, and this may partially explain why Europe was more unequal by 1800.

中文翻译：

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前工业化时期日本和西欧的收养、继承和财富不平等


本文使用 1637-1872 年的日本村庄人口普查来衡量土地所有权的不平等。令人惊讶的是，不平等程度低且稳定，这与欧洲不同，欧洲的不平等程度很高且不断增加。为了解释这一点，我研究了代际土地传输。我发现没有儿子的日本家庭收养了男性继承人，从而将土地留在家庭中。相比之下，英国精英男性血统有 20-30% 的时间失败，因为收养并不常见，导致他们的土地重新分配非常不平等。最后，收养方面的制度差异源于四世纪的教会政策，这可能部分解释了为什么到 1800 年欧洲更加不平等。