| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate whether or not households in the same descent group shared resources in rural Liaoning, China, from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. We detect such links by measuring how the characteristics of kin who lived outside the household affected individual well-being. For our index of well-being we use the chances of marrying and having children. Previous research has shown that for males in historical China, marriage and reproduction were sensitive indices of socioeconomic status. Privileged males married earlier and once married had more children (Harrell 1985, Lee and Campbell 1997). To analyze whether the number and socioeconomic status of different types of kin living outside the household had any effects on the chances that a male would marry or father children, we apply event-history techniques to social and demographic data from nominative, longitudinal household registers. |