Inherited Wealth
Jens Beckert
MPIfG Book
Abstract
How to regulate the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next has been hotly debated among politicians, legal scholars, sociologists, economists, and philosophers for centuries. Bequeathing wealth is a vital ingredient of family solidarity. But does the reproduction of social inequality through inheritance square with the principle of equal opportunity? Does democracy suffer when family wealth becomes political power?
The first in-depth, comparative study of the development of inheritance law in the United States, France, and Germany, Inherited Wealth investigates longstanding political and intellectual debates over inheritance laws and explains why these laws still differ so greatly among these countries. Using a sociological perspective, Jens Beckert sheds light on the four most controversial issues in inheritance law during the past two centuries: the freedom to dispose of one's property as one wishes, the rights of family members to the wealth bequeathed, the dissolution of entails (which restrict inheritance to specific classes of heirs), and estate taxation. Beckert shows that while the United States, France, and Germany have all long defended inheritance rights based on the notion of individual property rights, they have justified limitations on inheritance rights in profoundly different ways, reflecting culturally specific ways of understanding the problems of inherited wealth.
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Inheritance and Modern Society
1.2 Social Dimensions of Inheritance Law
Chapter 2: The Right to Bequeath: Testamentary Freedom and the Individuality of Property
2.1 France: Equality versus the Freedom of Private Disposition over Property
2.2 Germany: Testamentary Freedom versus Family and Social Justice
2.3 United States: Equality of Opportunity versus Individual Rights of Disposition
2.4 Conclusion
Chapter 3: Equality and Inclusion: The Inheritance Rights of the Family
3.1 The Principle of Equality in Intestacy Law
3.2 The Spouse in Intestacy Law
3.3 The Integration of Illegitimate Children into Inheritance Law
3.4 Conclusion
Chapter 4: Political Structure and Inheritance Law: The Abolition of Entails
4.1 The Double Abolition of Substitutions in France
4.2 The Delayed Abolition of Fideikommisse in Germany
4.3 The Abolition of Entails in the American Revolution
4.4 Conclusion
Chapter 5: Social Justice through Redistribution? The Taxation of Inheritance
5.1 Equality of Opportunity versus Private Property: The Estate Tax in the United States
5.2 "Sense of Family" versus Social Justice: The Inheritance Tax in Germany
5.3 Destruction of National Wealth? The Progressive Inheritance Tax in France
5.4 Conclusion
Chapter 6: Conclusion: Discourses and Institutions
Appendix: The Method of Content Analysis of Parliamentary Debates
Author
Jens Beckert
Reviews
"Jens Beckert's excellent new book Inherited Wealth helps explain how the values of liberty, equality, family and economic prosperity recurred in debates over entails and other issues across three countries and three centuries. Beckert's book focuses on legal debates over the rules of succession and taxation in France, Germany and the U.S. from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first. The book considers the development of the law of wills, intestacy, entails and inheritance taxation, with close analysis of the arguments offered in parliamentary debates over key pieces of legislation. Translated into English and aimed at an academic audience, this volume draws on a wealth of French and German sources not readily accessible to Anglophone scholars and offers an unusually comprehensive comparative analysis."
Anne Alstott, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA: "Family Values and the Law of Inheritance," in: Socio-Economic Review 7, 2009, 145–159.
"[...] Inherited Wealth presents a theoretically and methodologically strong piece of scholarship on an important sociological topic, and serves as a strong model for other researchers, regardless of the area of study."
Catherine Siebel, North Central College; Review in: Contemporary Sociology 38(2), 2009, 185–186. [PDF]
"Beckert's study [...] confirms that strong currents of social thought have profound and important impacts on the structure of law. Though German and French cultures may not be of direct interest to American historians, they create an intriguing background for evaluating the contours of American debates about wealth accumulations. That alone makes the book worth plowing through."
Richard H. Chused, New York Law School; Review in: The Journal of American History, December 2008, 833–844.
"This is an impressively-written, scrupulously-researched, and highly important book. Beckert's work deserves to attain the status of authoritative reference on the subject of inheritance. It will appeal especially to those who believe that the understanding of economy is impossible without a painstaking analysis of the institutions that govern behavior. Lastly, faculty should consider this book if they are offering a senior-level seminar on economic inequality or related issues."
Christopher Brown, Arkansas State University, Review in: Journal of Economic Issues 43(1), 2009, 280–281.
