Gifts and inheritances in Ireland. ESRI WP579, December 2017

Information on the frequency, value and composition of household wealth transfers has been fairly limited in Ireland and this paper aims to fill this gap by drawing on the detailed data now available on the pattern of gifts and inheritances from the 2013 Household Finance and Consumption Survey. We find that a considerably larger number of older and wealthier households report having received a gift or inheritance compared to their younger, less wealthy counterparts. The household main residence and businesses/farms are identified as the most important asset type in wealth transfers. Overall slightly over 13% of home-owning households were gifted or inherited their household main residence. We also show some association between inheritance and position in the wealth distribution, controlling for other factors. We find that that having received an inheritance or gift moves a household up the wealth distribution by 15.4 percentiles on average relative to households of the same income level that did not receive an inheritance. This effect is particularly large when the inheritance takes the form of a business or a property (not the main residence)

Mutations in evolution algebras by means of isotopisms

Any mutation of genotypes that occurs during the mitotic cell cycle in an eukaryotic cell can be algebraically represented by an isotopism of the evolution algebra that describes the genetic pattern of the inheritance process. This talk deals with the theory of isotopisms of non-associative algebras and, particularly, with the distribution of evolution algebras into isotopism classes in order to determine the spectrum of genetic patterns, up to mutation, that describe the mentioned inheritance process of a mitotic cell cycle.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Patrilocal Exogamy as a Monitoring Mechanism : How Inheritance and Residence Patterns Co-evolve

Economists have modeled inheritance norms assuming the pattern of post-marital residence is exogenous. We model the co-evolution of these two institutions, examining how patrilineal inheritance and patrilocal exogamy reinforced each other in a patrilineal-patrilocal equilibrium. We also derive conditions for a matrilineal-matrilocal equilibrium. The endogenous choice of the old to monitor the sexual behavior of the young women who reside with them, thereby affecting the paternity confidence of the young women’s husbands and hence their incentives, is crucial. Our model fits the data on the relationship between inheritance, residence patterns and paternity confidence, and on the importance of paternity uncertainty.

Juvenile rank acquisition is associated with fitness independent of adult rank

Social rank is a significant determinant of fitness in a variety of species. The importance of social rank suggests that the process by which juveniles come to establish their position in the social hierarchy is a critical component of development. Here, we use the highly predictable process of rank acquisition in spotted hyenas to study the consequences of variation in rank acquisition in early life. In spotted hyenas, rank is ‘inherited’ through a learning process called ‘maternal rank inheritance.’ This pattern is very consistent: approximately 80% of juveniles acquire the exact rank expected under the rules of maternal rank inheritance. The predictable nature of rank acquisition in these societies allows the process of rank acquisition to be studied independently from the ultimate rank that each juvenile attains. In this study, we use Elo-deviance scores, a novel application of the Elo-rating method, to calculate each juvenile’s deviation from the expected pattern of maternal rank inheritance during development. Despite variability in rank acquisition among juveniles, most of these juveniles come to attain the exact rank expected of them according to the rules of maternal rank inheritance. Nevertheless, we find that transient variation in rank acquisition in early life is associated with long-term fitness consequences for these individuals: juveniles ‘underperforming’ their expected ranks show reduced survival and lower lifetime reproductive success than better-performing peers, and this relationship is independent of both maternal rank and rank achieved in adulthood. We also find that multiple sources of early life adversity have cumulative, but not compounding, effects on fitness. Future work is needed to determine if variation in rank acquisition directly affects fitness, or if some other variable, such as maternal investment or juvenile condition, causes variation in both of these outcomes. (Includes Supplemental Materials and Reviewers\u27 Comments.

Inheritance and Saving

This paper explores the effects of inheritances on the saving of recipients. Information on inheritances and heirs is obtained from estate tax records of decedents which are linked to the income tax records of beneficiaries. The observed pattern of wealth mobility within two years of the receipt of inheritances and multivariate analyses show that wealth increases by less than the full amount of the inheritance received. Similarly, and consistent with previous findings, large inheritances are found to depress labor force participation.

Quantitative analysis of macroevolutionary patterning in technological evolution: Bicycle design from 1800 to 2000

Book description: This volume offers an integrative approach to the application of evolutionary theory in studies of cultural transmission and social evolution and reveals the enormous range of ways in which Darwinian ideas can lead to productive empirical research, the touchstone of any worthwhile theoretical perspective. While many recent works on cultural evolution adopt a specific theoretical framework, such as dual inheritance theory or human behavioral ecology, Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution emphasizes empirical analysis and includes authors who employ a range of backgrounds and methods to address aspects of culture from an evolutionary perspective. Editor Stephen Shennan has assembled archaeologists, evolutionary theorists, and ethnographers, whose essays cover a broad range of time periods, localities, cultural groups, and artifacts