Tesi etd-12032023-102434
Link copiato negli appunti
Tipo di tesi
Dottorato
Autore
FRESCHI, GIULIANA
URN
etd-12032023-102434
Titolo
The family burden: social mobility and infant abandonment in 19th-century Italy
Settore scientifico disciplinare
SECS-P/12
Corso di studi
Istituto di Economia - PHD IN ECONOMICS
Commissione
relatore Prof. NUVOLARI, ALESSANDRO
Parole chiave
- Nessuna parola chiave trovata
Data inizio appello
15/05/2024;
Disponibilità
completa
Riassunto analitico
This thesis aims at understanding how families – or the absence of it – permeates future life trajectories, exploring whether their impact varied across time periods and geographical locations. Specifically, this work focuses on the dimensions of social mobility and infant abandonment in 19th-century Italy. The first chapter aims at exploring the dynamics of intergenerational mobility of occupations in 19th-century Italy by investigating the relationship between social mobility and industrialisation at its very early stages. In this endeavour, we draw upon individual-level occupational data from marriage certificates collected from four different State archives for two benchmark years, 1815 and 1866. We follow a case-study approach, focusing on two medium-size cities and surrounding municipalities that would have played a role in the country’s industrial development and two rural areas (Brescia, Salerno, the province of Udine, and Pisticci). Unlike most studies on intergenerational mobility, this chapter provides estimates both on male and female mobility. Both men and women exhibited an increase in mobility throughout the 19th century, but the increase was more pronounced for women. This work makes a first attempt to investigate the drivers of mobility of occupations in pre-industrial Italy. In particular, it draws the attention on the association between literacy and social mobility. We explain the limited role of literacy in increasing social mobility rates by pointing out that, at the time, limited educational provision, particularly for girls, meant that being educated was a result of high social status rather than an active channel through which individuals could improve their occupational status through higher education.
Understanding women’s social mobility, especially in pre-industrial societies, poses intricate challenges. Before comparing their status with their parents’, it is crucial to understand these women’s roles in society and whether they were engaged in labour. Additionally, there is a need to consider the limitations of available sources in portraying women’s work accurately. The second chapter addresses these issues alongside the epistemological issue of the study of women’s employment in the past, the methodological challenges and the limitations of sources like marriage certificates. For instance, we find a growing trend among women to refrain from declaring their occupations. This pattern of non-reporting, observed not only in the data source utilised but also across various industrialising nations, prompts an examination into the factors influencing these trends. A robust correlation between social class and occupational non-declaration emerges, emphasising the profound influence of family background on both the type of occupations held and the perception of work among women. The chapter also provides insights into prevailing cultural norms and ideologies dictating women’s domestic roles.
The third chapter addresses social mobility in a disadvantaged group: foundlings’ descendants in the historic province of Florence, identified by means of the characteristic surname Innocenti. Following Clark (2015), we compare the frequency of the Innocenti in well-defined status groups with their frequency in the general population. Combining different sources, we build a novel dataset to estimate the Innocenti share in the population, both historically and today. In the 19th and early 20th century, we find that foundlings’ descendants were overrepresented among prison inmates and underrepresented among top income taxpayers. In both cases, relative representation was regressing towards the average. Our estimates are considerably lower than what Clark views as a near-universal persistence rate of 0.80, and long-run persistence found by Barone and Mocetti (2021) linking contemporary taxpayers to the 1427 Florentine Catasto. Our view “from below” suggests surprising mobility for an economy that even in the 1930s was only semi-industrialised. Even if persistence was very high in this elite, our evidence indicates that in the rest of the distribution mobility was possible, even in the 19th century. Foundlings and their descendants were not glued to a sticky floor.
The last chapter focuses on infant abandonment. Widespread in early modern Italy, infant abandonment assumed dramatic proportions throughout the 19th century. The high numbers were driven by the abandonment not only of illegitimate but also of legitimate children. Foundlings were left in the ruota, a turning wheel placed on a wall outside the foundling home that guaranteed anonymity to the abandoning parents. From the end of the 1860s, some provincial administrations started providing for the abolishment of the ruota. This chapter investigates the quantitative effect of the abolition of the ruota on children's survival and on fertility decisions, employing a staggered difference-in-difference design as the ruota was abolished in different years across Italian provinces. We find that abolishing the ruota decreased the number of total abandonments by 30%. The effect of the abolition of the ruota on children’s survival is negative and significant. The closure led to an overall decline in stillborn babies of 13.6% and in infant deaths of 11.2%. Last, we find a negative and significant effect on the number of births of 6.7%. The closure of the ruota might have come hand in hand with changes in cultural norms. From the individual perspective, it might have led to a behavioural change and have influenced reproductive control.
Understanding women’s social mobility, especially in pre-industrial societies, poses intricate challenges. Before comparing their status with their parents’, it is crucial to understand these women’s roles in society and whether they were engaged in labour. Additionally, there is a need to consider the limitations of available sources in portraying women’s work accurately. The second chapter addresses these issues alongside the epistemological issue of the study of women’s employment in the past, the methodological challenges and the limitations of sources like marriage certificates. For instance, we find a growing trend among women to refrain from declaring their occupations. This pattern of non-reporting, observed not only in the data source utilised but also across various industrialising nations, prompts an examination into the factors influencing these trends. A robust correlation between social class and occupational non-declaration emerges, emphasising the profound influence of family background on both the type of occupations held and the perception of work among women. The chapter also provides insights into prevailing cultural norms and ideologies dictating women’s domestic roles.
The third chapter addresses social mobility in a disadvantaged group: foundlings’ descendants in the historic province of Florence, identified by means of the characteristic surname Innocenti. Following Clark (2015), we compare the frequency of the Innocenti in well-defined status groups with their frequency in the general population. Combining different sources, we build a novel dataset to estimate the Innocenti share in the population, both historically and today. In the 19th and early 20th century, we find that foundlings’ descendants were overrepresented among prison inmates and underrepresented among top income taxpayers. In both cases, relative representation was regressing towards the average. Our estimates are considerably lower than what Clark views as a near-universal persistence rate of 0.80, and long-run persistence found by Barone and Mocetti (2021) linking contemporary taxpayers to the 1427 Florentine Catasto. Our view “from below” suggests surprising mobility for an economy that even in the 1930s was only semi-industrialised. Even if persistence was very high in this elite, our evidence indicates that in the rest of the distribution mobility was possible, even in the 19th century. Foundlings and their descendants were not glued to a sticky floor.
The last chapter focuses on infant abandonment. Widespread in early modern Italy, infant abandonment assumed dramatic proportions throughout the 19th century. The high numbers were driven by the abandonment not only of illegitimate but also of legitimate children. Foundlings were left in the ruota, a turning wheel placed on a wall outside the foundling home that guaranteed anonymity to the abandoning parents. From the end of the 1860s, some provincial administrations started providing for the abolishment of the ruota. This chapter investigates the quantitative effect of the abolition of the ruota on children's survival and on fertility decisions, employing a staggered difference-in-difference design as the ruota was abolished in different years across Italian provinces. We find that abolishing the ruota decreased the number of total abandonments by 30%. The effect of the abolition of the ruota on children’s survival is negative and significant. The closure led to an overall decline in stillborn babies of 13.6% and in infant deaths of 11.2%. Last, we find a negative and significant effect on the number of births of 6.7%. The closure of the ruota might have come hand in hand with changes in cultural norms. From the individual perspective, it might have led to a behavioural change and have influenced reproductive control.
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