Entrepreneurs may be constrained by the law to bequeath a minimal stake to non-controlling heirs. The size of this stake can reduce investment in family firms, by reducing the future income they can pledge to external financiers. Using a purpose-built indicator of the permissiveness of...

This paper aims to explain disparities in the charitable bequest behavior of men and women. I use data on charitable bequests in wills from 17th Century Suffolk, England to investigate whether women or men were more generous to the poor when they died. Because of the difference in the legal...

The regulation of the transfer of property mortis causa has been a major concern of social reformers since the Enlightenment. Today, by contrast, the issue of the bequest of wealth from generation to generation stirs hardly any political controversy. Since the mid-twentieth century the topic has...

La desaparición física de las personas es una circunstancia de acaecimiento inexorable en nuestras vidas, que depende exclusivamente de la decisión de Dios, lo cual es ajeno a nuestra voluntad. En consecuencia resulta interesante plantearse que, si bien no podemos planificar el momento de su...

The proclaimed aim of agricultural inheritance law in Germany and its preferential treatment of the farm successors is to maintain sustainable agricultural enterprises. To clarify this situation, this contribution exemplifies the financial assistance obtained through the legal situation and...