[ExI] Impressive book: Farewell to Alms

[Damien Broderick]

At 01:44 PM 2/5/2008 -0700, Keith wrote:

> >What? "Representative of the whole population" doesn't here mean
> >"representative of the whole population of will-writers whose wills
> >are preserved," it means "representative of the whole population."
>
>http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/papers/Capitalism%20Genes.pdf
>
>"...the custom of making wills seems to have extended well down
>the social hierarchy in pre-industrial England. In Suffolk in the
>1620s 39 percent of males who lived past age 16 made a will that
>was probated....there are plenty of wills available for those at the
>bottom of the hierarchy such as laborers, sailors, shepherds, and
>husbandmen."

Hmm. Okay, thanks. I'm sure there's still a skew, but not as wild as 
it seemed at first blush.

Damien Broderick