Lindert, Peter H.Milanovic, BrankoWilliamson, Jeffrey G.2012-06-112012-06-112007-11https://hdl.handle.net/10986/7630Is inequality largely the result of the Industrial Revolution? Or, were pre-industrial incomes and life expectancies as unequal as they are today? For want of sufficient data, these questions have not yet been answered. This paper infers inequality for 14 ancient, pre-industrial societies using what are known as social tables, stretching from the Roman Empire 14 AD, to Byzantium in 1000, to England in 1688, to Nueva España around 1790, to China in 1880 and to British India in 1947. It applies two new concepts in making those assessments - what the authors call the inequality possibility frontier and the inequality extraction ratio. Rather than simply offering measures of actual inequality, the authors compare the latter with the maximum feasible inequality (or surplus) that could have been extracted by the elite. The results, especially when compared with modern poor countries, give new insights in to the connection between inequality and economic development in the very long run.CC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE POVERTYABSOLUTE POVERTY LINEACCOUNTINGADVANCED COUNTRIESANNUAL INCOMEANNUAL INCOMESANNUAL WAGEAVERAGE ANNUALAVERAGE INCOMEAVERAGE INCOMESAVERAGE INEQUALITYBANKSBETWEEN-GROUP INEQUALITYCALCULATIONCALCULATIONSCENTRAL AMERICACONFLICTCONSTANT RETURNSCONSUMERCONSUMER PRICE INDEXDATA SETDEBTDEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTSDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING WORLDDIFFERENCES IN INCOMEDISPOSABLE INCOMEECONOMIC DECLINEECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC INEQUALITYECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC REVIEWELASTICITYEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPIRICAL SUPPORTEMPIRICAL WORKFARM WORKERSFARMERSFINANCIAL SUPPORTFOOD CROPSGDPGINI COEFFICIENTGROUP INEQUALITYHIGH INEQUALITYHIGHER INFANT MORTALITYHOUSEHOLD COMPOSITIONHOUSEHOLD HEADHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSINCOMEINCOME CONCEPTSINCOME DIFFERENCESINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME DISTRIBUTION DATAINCOME DISTRIBUTIONSINCOME GROUPINCOME GROUPSINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME LEVELINCOME LEVELSINCOME MEANINCOME SHAREINCOME SHARESINCOME SOURCEINCOME SOURCESINCOME TAXINCOMESINCREASED INEQUALITYINCREASING FUNCTIONINEQUALITYINEQUALITY COMPONENTINEQUALITY MEASURESINEQUALITY OBSERVATIONSINEQUALITY RESULTSINFANT MORTALITYINTERNATIONAL PRICESLANDLESS PEASANTSLIFE EXPECTANCIESLIFE EXPECTANCYLIFE SPANLIFE SPANSLIFETIMELIVING STANDARDSLOW INCOMEMEAN INCOMEMEAN INCOMESMEASURED INEQUALITYMEASURING INCOME INEQUALITYMIDDLE CLASSMONETARY ECONOMICSNATIONAL ECONOMYPER CAPITA GROWTHPER CAPITA INCOMEPER CAPITA INCOMESPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOORPOOR AREASPOOR COUNTRIESPOOR ECONOMIESPOOR INDIVIDUALSPOSITIVE IMPACTPOVERTY MEASURESPUBLIC SECTORRENTSRESOURCE ENDOWMENTSRISING INEQUALITYRURALRURAL AREASRURAL DISTRICTSRURAL ECONOMYRURAL INCOMESRURAL LABORERSRURAL POORRURAL POPULATIONRURAL POPULATIONSSAHARASALARIESSECONDARY SOURCESSIGNIFICANT CORRELATIONSOCIAL CONSEQUENCESSOURCES OF INCOMETAXATIONURBAN POPULATIONWAGEWAGESWARWELL-BEINGWESTERN EUROPEWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4412