A study of the changes in wealth and distribution during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Paris, which maps the interaction between wealth, inequality, and prosperity.

Successful economies maintain capital accumulation across generations, and capital accumulation leads to significant increases in private wealth. In this book, Gilles Postel-Vinay and Jean-Laurent Rosenthal map the fluctuations of wealth and its distribution in Paris between 1807 and 1977. Using a unique inheritance database of nearly 800,000 Parisians, they show that real wealth per heir experienced significant fluctuations during this period, while inequality started high and only decreased slowly.

Parisians' portfolios document astonishing changes in the geography and types of wealth over time. The narrative of Postel-Vinay and Rosenthal reveals the impact of economic factors (major upheavals, technological changes, varied returns on wealth), political factors (tax changes), and demographic and social factors (age and gender) on wealth and inequality.

Before the First World War, private wealth was highly indicative of other prosperity indicators, including various forms of human capital, age at death, and access to local public goods. After the First World War, public intervention reduced — but did not eliminate — the potential link between wealth inequality and other forms of inequality. During the two centuries covered, Paris and its wealth were at the forefront of economic and social changes that affected the rest of the country a generation later.