Publication:
Pre-industrial Inequality

No Thumbnail Available
Date
2011
ISSN
00130133
Published
2011
Author(s)
Williamson, Jeffrey G.
Abstract
Is inequality largely the result of the Industrial Revolution? Or, were pre-industrial incomes as unequal as they are today? This article infers inequality across individuals within each of the 28 pre-industrial societies, for which data were available, using what are known as social tables. It applies two new concepts: the inequality possibility frontier and the inequality extraction ratio. They compare the observed income inequality to the maximum feasible inequality that, at a given level of income, might have been 'extracted' by those in power. The results give new insights into the connection between inequality and economic development in the very long run.
Link to Data Set
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Associated content
Citations