Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T02:11:11.414Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Determinants of the Wealth and Asset Holding in Nineteenth-Century Canada: Evidence from Microdata

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Livio Di Matteo
Livio Di Matteo
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Economics, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 5E1.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Wealth and asset holding in late-nineteenth-century Ontario are examined using a new data set of census-linked probated decedents. Hump-shaped wealth-age profiles are found, supporting the importance of demographic and life cycle forces in late-nineteenth-century financial asset accumulation. With financial asset holding more pronounced in Ontario than Quebec, the implication for Canadian economic development is that the differences in capital formation and industrialization across Ontario and Quebec are partly rooted in saving behavior. The results show that urbanization, occupational status, literacy, the number of children, and region of residence are important determinants of wealth and asset holding.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , December 1997 , pp. 907 - 934
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Akenson, Donald H.Being Had: Historians, Evidence and the Irish in North America. Port Credit, Ontario: P. D. Meany Publishers, 1985.Google Scholar
Alter, GeorgeGoldin, Claudia, and Rotella, Elyce. “The Savings of Ordinary Americans: The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society in the Mid-Nineteenth Century.” this Journal 54, no. 4 (1994): 735–67.Google Scholar
Altman, Morris. “Revised Real Canadian GNP Estimates and Canadian Economic Growth, 1870–1926.” Review of Income and Wealth 38, no. 4 (1992): 455–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altman, Morris. “Resource Endowments and Location Theory in Economic History: A Case Study of Quebec and Ontario at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” this Journal 46, no. 4 (1986): 999–1009.Google Scholar
Armstrong, Robert. Structure and Change: An Economic History of Quebec. Toronto: Gage, 1984.Google Scholar
Atack, Jeremy, and Bateman, Fred. “Egalitarianism, Inequality, and Age: The Rural North in 1860.” this Journal 41, no. 1 (1981): 85–93.Google Scholar
Bellante, Don, and Saba, Richard P.. “Human Capital and Life-Cycle Effects on Risk Aversion.” The Journal of Financial Research 9, no. 1 (1986): 41–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernheim, B. Douglas, Shleifer, Andrei, and Sunimers, Laurence H.. “The Strategic Bequest Motive.” Journal of Political Economy 93, no. 6 (1985): 1045–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourbeau, Robert, and Légaré, Jacques. Evolution de la mortalité au Canada et au Québec 1831–1931. Montréal: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1982.Google Scholar
Cameron, Rondo. A Concise Economic History of the World From Paleolithic Times to the Present. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Cameron, Rondo, ed. Banking and Economic Development Some Lessons of History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Cameron, Rondo, Crisp, Olga T., Patrick, Hugh T., et al. Banking in the Early Stages of Industrialization. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967Google Scholar
Canada Statistical Record 1886. Ottawa: McLean, Roger and Co., 1887.Google Scholar
Darroch, Gordon, and Soltow, Lee. Property and Inequality in Victorian Ontario: Structural Patterns and Cultural Communities in the 1871 Census. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Davies, James B. “Uncertain Lifetime, Consumption and Dissaving in Retirement.” Journal of Political Economy 89, no. 3 (1981): 561–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di, Matteo Livio. “The Wealth of the Irish in Nineteenth Century Ontario.” Social Science History 20, no. 2 (1996): 209–34.Google Scholar
Di, Matteo Livio, and George, Peter J.. “Patterns and Determinants of Wealth Among Probated Decedents in Wentworth County, Ontario 1872–1902.” Histoire sociale Social History, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Di, Matteo Livio, and George, Peter J.. “Canadian Wealth Inequality in the Late Nineteenth Century: A Study of Wentworth County, Ontario, 1872–1902” Canadian Historical Review 73, no. 4 (1992): 453–83.Google Scholar
Drummond, Ian M.Progress without Planning: The Economic History of Ontario from Confederation to the Second World War. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drummond, Ian M.. “Canadian Life Insurance Companies and the Capital Market, 1890–1914.” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 28, no. 2 (1962): 204–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easterlin, Richard A. “Population Change and Farm Settlement in the Northern United States.” this Journal 36, no. 1 (1976): 45–83.Google Scholar
Elliott, Bruce S. “Sources of Bias in Nineteenth-Century Ontario Wills.” Histoire sociale Social History 18, no. 35 (1985):125–32.Google Scholar
Ferrie, Joseph P. “The Wealth Accumulation of Antebellum European Immigrants to the U.S., 1840–1860.” this Journal 54, no. 1 (1994), 1–33.Google Scholar
Fischer, Stanley. “A Life Cycle Model of Life Insurance Purchases,” International Economic Review 14, no. 1 (1973): 132–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friend, Irwin, and Blume, Marshall E.. “The Demand for Risky Assets.” American Economic Review 65, no. 5 (1975): 900–22.Google Scholar
Gagan, David. “The Indivisibility of Land: A Microanalysis of the System of Inheritance in Nineteenth Century Ontario.” this Journal 36, no. 1 (1976): 126–46.Google Scholar
Gagan, David. Hopeful Travellers: Families, Land and Social Change in Mid-Victorian Peel County, Canada West. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gagan, David. “Class and Society in Victorian English Canada: An Historiographical Reassessment.” British Journal of Canadian Studies 4, no. 1 (1989): 74–87.Google Scholar
Galenson, David W. “Economic Opportunity on the Urban Frontier: Nativity, Work, and Wealth in Early Chicago.” this Journal 51, no. 3 (1991): 581–603.Google Scholar
Galenson, David W., and Pope, Clayne L.. “Economic and Geographic Mobility on the Farming Frontier: Evidence from Appanoose County, Iowa, 1850–1870.” this Journal 49, no. 3 (1989): 635–55.Google Scholar
Grant, John W.A Profusion of Spires: Religion in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Alan G., and Urquhart, Malcolm C.. “New Estimates of Output Growth in Canada: Measurement and Interpretation.” In Perspectives on Canadian Economic History, edited by McCalla, Doug, 182–99. Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman, 1987.Google Scholar
Henretta, James. “Families and Farms: Mentalité in Pre-Industrial America.” William and Mary Quarterly 35, no. 1 (1978): 3–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henripin, Jacques. Tendances et facteurs de la fécondité au Canada. Ottawa: Bureau Federal de la Statistique, 1968.Google Scholar
Herscovici, Stephen. “The Distribution of Wealth in Nineteenth Century Boston: Inequality among Natives and Immigrants, 1860.” Explorations in Economic History 30, no. 3 (1993): 321–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, Alfred. The Law and Practice as to Probate, Administration and Guardianship in Surrogate Courts. Toronto: Carswell, 1880.Google Scholar
Hurd, Michael D. “Savings of the Elderly and Desired Bequests.” American Economic Review 77, no. 3 (1987): 298–312.Google Scholar
Inwood, Kris, and Wagg, Phyllis “Wealth and Prosperity in Nova Scotian Agriculture, 1851–71.” Canadian Historical Review 75, no. 2 (1994): 239–64.Google Scholar
Isbister, John. “Agriculture, Balanced Growth, and Social Changes in Central Canada since 1850: An Interpretation.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 25, no 4 (1977), 673–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, G. E. “Emigration of Canadians to the United States.” American Academy of Political and Social Science Annals 107, (1923): 25–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Paul. “Savings Behavior, Fertility and Economic Development in Nineteenth-Century Britain and America.” Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, Discussion Paper No. 203, 1987.Google Scholar
Katz, Michael B.The People of Hamilton, Canada West: Family and Class in a Mid-Nineteenth-Century City. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearl, J. R., and Pope, Clayne L.. “The Life Cycle in Economic History.” this Journal 43, no. 1 (1983): 149–58.Google Scholar
Kerr, Donald, and Smyth, William J.. “Comments.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 28, no. 3 (1980): 615–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KesslerM, Denis, and Masson, André. “Bequest and Wealth Accumulation: Are Some Pieces of the Puzzle Missing.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 3, no. 3 (1989): 141–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Mervyn. “The Economics of Saving: A Survey of Recent Contributions.” In Frontiers in Economics, edited by Arrow, K. J. and Honkapohja, S., 227–327. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985.Google Scholar
Kotlikoff, Laurence J. “Intergenerational Transfers and Savings.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 2, no. 2 (1988): 41–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Frank. “Fertility and Savings in the United States 1830–1900.” Journal of Political Economy 9, no. 5 (1983): 825–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Frank. “Dependents and the Demand for Life Insurance.” American Economic Review 79, no. 3 (1989): 452–67.Google Scholar
Maddala, G. S.Introduction to Econometrics. London: Macmillan, 1988.Google Scholar
Magee, Lonnie, Robb, A. Leslie, and Burbidge, John B.. “On the Use of Sampling Weights When Estimating Models with Survey Data.” McMaster University, Department of Economics, Working Paper Series, 1994–2004.Google Scholar
Marr, William L., and Paterson, Donald G.. Canada: An Economic History. Toronto: Gage, 1980.Google Scholar
McCallum, John. Unequal Beginnings: Agriculture and Economic Development in Quebec and Ontario until 1870. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981.Google Scholar
McInnis, Marvin. “Women, work and childbearing: Ontario in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century,” Histoire sociale-Social History 24, no. 48 (1991): 237–62.Google Scholar
Menchik, Paul L. “Primogeniture, Equal Sharing, and the U.S. Distribution of Wealth.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 94, no. 2 (1980): 299–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menchik, Paul L. “Is the Family Wealth Squandered? A Test of the Merry-Widow Model.” this Journal 44, no. 3 (1984): 835–38.Google Scholar
Menchik, Paul L. and David, M.. “Income Distribution, Lifetime Savings, and Bequests.” American Economic Review 73, no. 4 (1983): 672–90.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. R., ed. International Historical Statistics-The Americas 1750–1988. New York: Macmillan Stockton Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. R., ed. International Historical Statistics-Europe 1750–1988. New York: Macmillan Stockton Press, 1992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Modigliani, Franco. “The Role of Intergenerational Transfers and Life Cycle Saving in the Accumulation of Wealth” Journal of Economic Perspectives 2, no. 2(1988): 15–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neufeld, E. P.The Financial System of Canada. Toronto: Macmillan, 1972.Google Scholar
Nugent, Jeffrey B. “The Old-Age Security Motive for Fertility.” Population and Development Review 2, no. 1 (1985): 75–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osberg, Lars, and Siddiq, Fazley. “The Acquisition of Wealth in Nova Scotia in the Late Nineteenth Century.” Research in Economic Inequality 4, (1993): 181–202.Google Scholar
Osborne, Brian S. “Wills and Inventories: Records of Life and Death in a Developing Society.” Families 19, no. 4 (1980): 235–47.Google Scholar
Paquet, Gilles, and Wallot, Jean-Pierre. “Stratégie foncière de l'habitant: Québec (1790–1835),” Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française 39, no. 4 (1986): 551–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pomfret, Richard. The Economic Development of Canada. 2nd Ed. Toronto: Nelson, 1993.Google Scholar
Pope, Clayne L. “Households on the American Frontier: the Distribution of Income and Wealth in Utah 1850–1900.” In Markets in History: Economic Studies of the Past, edited by Galenson, David W., 148–89. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Ransom, Roger L., and Sutch, Richard. “The Life-Cycle Transition: A Preliminary Report on Wealth Holding in America,” Paper Prepared for the Tenth University of California Conference on Economic History, Laguna Beach, California, 1986.Google Scholar
Ransom, Roger L., and Sutch, Richard. “Did Rising Out-Migration Cause Fertility to Decline in Antebellum New England? A Life Cycle Perspective on Old Age Security Motives, Child Default, and Farm Family Fertility.” California Institute of Technology Social Science Working Paper No. 610, 1986.Google Scholar
Ransom, Roger L., and Sutch, Richard. “The abor of Older Americans: Retirement of Men On and Off the Job: 1870–1937.” this JOURNAL 46, no. 1 (1986): 1–30.Google Scholar
Report of the Royal Commission on the Relations of Capital and Labour in Canada, Vol. 2, 1889.Google Scholar
Salamon, Sonya. Prairie Patrimony: Family, Farming and Community in the Midwest. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shammas, Carole, Salmon, Marylynne, and Dahlin, Michel. Inheritance in America from Colonial Times to the Present. London: Rutgers University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Shazam User's Reference Manual Version 7.0. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.Google Scholar
Shearer, Ronald A., Chant, John, and Bond, David E.. Economics of the Canadian Financial System: Theory, Policy and Institutions. 3rd Ed. , Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall, 1995.Google Scholar
Shearer, Ronald A., and Paterson, Donald G.. “The Supply of Canadian Money, 1824–1871, Technical Appendices, University of British Columbia Discussion Paper, 92–26, 10 1992.Google Scholar
Siddiq, Fazley K., and Gwyn, Julian. “The Importance of Probate Inventories in Estimating the Distribution of Wealth.” Nova Scotia Historical Review 11, no. 1 (1991): 103–17.Google Scholar
Siegel, Frederick W., and Hoban, James P.. “Measuring Risk Aversion: Allocation, Leverage, and Accumulation.” The Journal of Financial Research 14, no. 1 (1991): 27–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snell, James G. “Maintenance Agreements for the Elderly: Canada, 1900–1951.” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 3, (1992): 197–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistical Year-Book of Canada 1895. Ottawa, Department of Agriculture, 1896.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard H. “Poverty and Prosperity: A Longitudinal Study of Wealth Accumulation, 18507ndash;1860.” Review of Economics and Statistics 72, no. 2 (1990): 275–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sundstrom, William A., and David, Paul A.. “Old Age Security Motives, Labour Markets, and Farm Family Fertility in Antebellum America.” Explorations in Economic History 25, no. 2 (1988): 166–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutch, Richard. “All Things Reconsidered: The Life-Cycle Perspective and the Third Task of Economic History,” this JOURNAL 51, no. 2 (1991): 271–88.Google Scholar
Taylor, Graham D., and Baskerville, Peter A.. A Concise History of Business in Canada. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Urquhart, Malcolm C., and Buckley, Kenneth A. H.. Historical Statistics of Canada. Toronto: Macmillan, 1965.Google Scholar
Wagg, Phyllis. “The Bias of Probate: Using Deeds to Transfer Estates in Nineteenth-Century Nova Scotia.” Nova Scotia Historical Review 10, no. 1 (1990): 74–87.Google Scholar
Williamson, Jeffrey G. “Fertility Decline, Emigration and Child Default: Evidence from Nineteenth Century Rural England,” Tenth University of California Conference on Economic History,Laguna Beach, California, 1986.Google Scholar