OCCUPATIONAL FOLLOWING DURING THE GUILD ERA: AN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE

Family traditions in business operations are common throughout recorded history. From an economic perspective, occupational following may occur voluntarily because valuable, job‐specific human capital, which is transferred at low cost from one generation to the next, raises the son's expected return of following in his father's footsteps. Moreover, to the extent family name is utilized as a screening device for entry into restricted occupations, sons may have a double inducement to follow.