Measuring Ancient Inequality

Is 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 inequalit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Milanovic, Branko, Lindert, Peter H., Williamson, Jeffrey G.
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE POVERTY ABSOLUTE POVERTY LINE ACCOUNTING ADVANCED COUNTRIES ANNUAL INCOME ANNUAL INCOMES ANNUAL WAGE AVERAGE ANNUAL AVERAGE INCOME AVERAGE INCOMES AVERAGE INEQUALITY BANKS BETWEEN-GROUP INEQUALITY CALCULATION CALCULATIONS CENTRAL AMERICA CONFLICT CONSTANT RETURNS CONSUMER CONSUMER PRICE INDEX DATA SET DEBT DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPING WORLD DIFFERENCES IN INCOME DISPOSABLE INCOME ECONOMIC DECLINE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC INEQUALITY ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC REVIEW ELASTICITY EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS EMPIRICAL SUPPORT EMPIRICAL WORK FARM WORKERS FARMERS FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOOD CROPS GDP GINI COEFFICIENT GROUP INEQUALITY HIGH INEQUALITY HIGHER INFANT MORTALITY HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS INCOME INCOME CONCEPTS INCOME DIFFERENCES INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME DISTRIBUTION DATA INCOME DISTRIBUTIONS INCOME GROUP INCOME GROUPS INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVEL INCOME LEVELS INCOME MEAN INCOME SHARE INCOME SHARES INCOME SOURCE INCOME SOURCES INCOME TAX INCOMES INCREASED INEQUALITY INCREASING FUNCTION INEQUALITY INEQUALITY COMPONENT INEQUALITY MEASURES INEQUALITY OBSERVATIONS INEQUALITY RESULTS INFANT MORTALITY INTERNATIONAL PRICES LANDLESS PEASANTS LIFE EXPECTANCIES LIFE EXPECTANCY LIFE SPAN LIFE SPANS LIFETIME LIVING STANDARDS LOW INCOME MEAN INCOME MEAN INCOMES MEASURED INEQUALITY MEASURING INCOME INEQUALITY MIDDLE CLASS MONETARY ECONOMICS NATIONAL ECONOMY PER CAPITA GROWTH PER CAPITA INCOME PER CAPITA INCOMES POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POOR POOR AREAS POOR COUNTRIES POOR ECONOMIES POOR INDIVIDUALS POSITIVE IMPACT POVERTY MEASURES PUBLIC SECTOR RENTS RESOURCE ENDOWMENTS RISING INEQUALITY RURAL RURAL AREAS RURAL DISTRICTS RURAL ECONOMY RURAL INCOMES RURAL LABORERS RURAL POOR RURAL POPULATION RURAL POPULATIONS SAHARA SALARIES SECONDARY SOURCES SIGNIFICANT CORRELATION SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES SOURCES OF INCOME TAXATION URBAN POPULATION WAGE WAGES WAR WELL-BEING WESTERN EUROPE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/11/8789801/measuring-ancient-inequality http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7630

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Summary:	Is 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.

Measuring Ancient Inequality

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