Once in the Elite, Always in the Elite? Changing Wealth in a Changing City (Paris, France, 1845-1859)

Abstract

Little is known about individual economic mobility in the 19th century. This article examines this question by studying the group of franchised Parisian voters of the 1840s. Different sources are matched in order to follow longitudinally the trajectories of the individuals who belong to this particularly rich and politically important group over time. Both short-term and long-term mobility are analyzed. Short-term mobility is observed by matching individuals who appear in the electoral lists of the years 1845 and 1846. These lists show the direct taxes that were paid by the voters. Long-term mobility is revealed by exploiting the Parisian Tables of successions and absences (TSA) of the years 1845 to 1859. These contain information about the wealth at death of individuals. Because the tax-based voting franchise and wealth do not have the same structure, this article studies the comparability between these two variables and explores the question of the political representation of wealth. Despite the difference in definition between the tax-based voting franchise and wealth, the data set shows consistent correlations across time. Moreover, both in the short and long term, economic mobility proves to be substantial. 14 percent of individuals changed quintile between 1845 and 1846, which is considerable over a one-year period. Concerning long-term mobility, 65 percent of individuals changed quintile between 1845 and their respective years of death. All these results raise serious questions about the long-held idea of a stable plutocratic elite group.