We use a unique dataset to analyze the marriage patterns of the British and German nobility from the 1500s to the 1800s, and discuss the differences in institutions between the two countries. Historical evidence shows that: nobles tended to marry nobles with identical title; and, German marriages were characterized by a higher degree of homogamy in titles than British marriages. Moreover, we show that German data exhibit lower odds of marriage than British among nobles and commoners, and hence provide evidence of a more stratified society. Finally, we propose a diff-in-diff exercise to test the correlation between highly restrictive marriage laws and marital sorting in Germany.

我们使用一个独特的数据集来分析1500到1800年代英国和德国贵族的婚姻模式，并讨论两国之间制度上的差异。历史证据表明：贵族倾向于与同名贵族结婚；并且，德国婚姻的特征是同业婚姻的程度高于英国婚姻。此外，我们表明，在贵族和平民中，德国的数据显示出比英国低的婚姻几率，因此提供了一个更加分层的社会的证据。最后，我们提出了差异比较法，以测试高度严格的婚姻法与德国婚姻分类之间的相关性。