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by bobnamob 1481 days ago
That phenomenon probably has more to do with wealth being spread increasingly thin across ever-larger generations
4 comments

Probably less so in China given that, until recently, they had severe restrictions on the number of children per a family.

Though your point is valid it's only part of the story.

I've seen many scions from China attending western universities in a state of decadence, barely focused on their course work, all too willing to live off their parents' past efforts, while driving expensive cars and walking around in clothes and accessories worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Another element is how ambition to have your own achievement can team up with risk taking. It's usually not the humble playboy who consumes away the fortune, it's one who tries to step out of the shadow cart by inheritance by growing the fortune through a series off get-richer-quickly schemes.
No part of this is even close to correct. No, wealth is not being evenly spread, it's becoming more and more concentrated. And no, generations are not getting "ever-larger", either; birth rates are down.

Even the "probably" is wrong. :)

Maybe?

Certainly more offspring was normal, the further back you go. So wealth division could more easily happen.

But most cultures had the idea of the "first born", the official heir... for this very reason! Most of the loot, holdings, tended to go the eldest.

This is no longer legal in many jurisdictions. Family members often have a minimum allocation of the inheritance (e.g. 25% must be equally split among all children)
Interesting, and most places it is culturally unacceptable regardless.

Yet the proverb is historical, as all proverbs are, and my response was intended to refute the dissolution of wealth, historically, by spreading it too thin.

Our ancestors didn't do that.

What jurisdiction is this?
France has a floor on the percentage each descendant gets.