Ancestral Geography and Global Earnings Inequality Patterns across Persistent Cultural Lineages

Abstract

Purpose: This paper examines how ancestral geography, defined through cultural lineage persistence, historical settlement continuity, mobility structures, and governance quality, shapes contemporary global earnings inequality. The study aims to determine whether inequality is primarily driven by long-standing historical forces rather than only modern economic dynamics.

Methodology: The study harmonizes cross-national datasets from seven countries covering the period 2010 to 2024. Data were drawn from the World Inequality Database, United Nations demographic and migration databases, UNESCO cultural records, UN geospatial settlement archives, and the V-Dem governance dataset. Variables were standardized on a 0 to 1 scale. Linear interaction models were employed to estimate the direct and moderating effects of ancestral geography and governance on multiple dimensions of earnings inequality.

Results/Analysis: Findings indicate that strong cultural lineage persistence and dense historical settlement continuity are positively associated with wider wage distribution gaps, greater occupational stratification, lower intergenerational mobility, and higher regional income divergence. Mobility, both internal and international, weakens inherited structural disparities. Governance quality moderates the relationship between ancestral structures and inequality by reducing the transmission of historical rigidities into present-day wage differentials. The results confirm that historical identity and spatial persistence exert measurable long-term effects on income distribution.

Originality/Value: The study introduces the concept of ancestral geography as an integrated framework combining lineage continuity, settlement systems, mobility patterns, and institutional quality. Unlike prior research that treats these factors separately, this work consolidates them into a unified empirical model to explain global earnings inequality. It extends inequality theory by demonstrating how historical, cultural, and spatial persistence interact with governance to shape contemporary labor market outcomes.

Type of paper: Empirical research paper.