Wealthy parents pass on three quarters of their fortunes to their children, meaning it will take 300 years for the offspring of today’s super-rich to have average incomes, a survey has revealed.

The sons and daughters of prestigious families are also likely to live longer than average, more likely to attend Oxbridge, live in expensive houses, and go on to become doctors or lawyers.

There is also little difference in wealth or social standing when the richest families of the Victoria era are compared to their descendants today, according to the study.

Publishing their findings in the Economic Journal, Professor Gregory Clark and Dr. Neil Cummins said, “What your great-great-grandfather was doing is still predictive of what you are doing now.”

The pair examined the records of 19,000 people, including more than 600 rare family names such as Bazalgette, Pepys, and Bigge.

Joseph Bazalgette was responsible for building the world’s first sewer system in London in the 19th century, the Pepys family tree contains noted diarist Samuel Pepys, and John Bigge was a judge and royal commissioner.

They found that, compared to their relatives in 1850, those living with that surname today are almost certain to have amassed fortunes well beyond the reach of the average Briton.

For example, Sir Peter Bazalgette, the great-great-grandson of Sir Joseph, is the founder of Endemol television production company, which created “Big Brother” and “Deal or No Deal.”

The company was floated on the Dutch stock exchange in 2005. It trebled in value and was sold for 2.5 billion pounds in 2007.

The findings of Clark and Cummins, reported by The Guardian, suggest that the passing down of wealth has a far bigger impact on society than previously thought.

研究显示，富有的父母们会把四分之三的财产留给子女，这就意味着现今富豪的后代三百年后才会与普通人收入持平。

出身望族的人也会比普通人长寿，更可能进牛津剑桥，住豪宅，成为医生或律师。

研究发现，维多利亚时期的豪门与他们今天的后代相比，其财富和地位变化不大。

《经济学杂志》发表了该项研究。格雷戈里·克拉克教授和尼尔·卡明斯博士说：“你的高曾祖父干什么预示了你干什么。”

该项研究调查了19000个人的档案，其中包括了600多个罕见姓氏如巴扎盖特、佩皮斯、比格等等。

19世纪，巴扎盖特家族中的约瑟夫·巴扎盖特负责在伦敦建设世界第一套下水道系统，佩皮斯家族的家谱系中曾出现过著名的日记作家塞缪尔·佩皮斯，而约翰·比格是一名法官和皇家理事。

他们发现，与1850年的先祖们相比，冠有这些姓氏的后人积累的财富几乎都在英国人平均水准之上。

例如约瑟夫·巴扎盖特先生的玄孙彼得·巴扎盖特先生创建了安迪摩尔传媒集团，没错，就是创立“老大哥”和“一掷千金”节目的公司。

2005年，这家公司在荷兰股票交易所上市，2007年市值涨了三倍，以25亿英镑卖出。

《卫报》报道了克拉克和卡明斯的这项发现，表明相对于之前人们的认识，财富的传承对社会有更深远的影响。

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

    【预言的】yùyán de predictive predicting or foretelling the future

    【积累】jīlěi amass accumulate or collect