{"title":"Inequality in rural Catalonia in the early eighteenth century","authors":"Julio Martinez-Galarraga, Marc Prat","doi":"10.1007/s11698-024-00289-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper analyses economic inequality in central Catalonia in the early 1720s using the information contained in cadastral tax records. The data set includes 2617 male taxpayers distributed across 17 rural villages. We take advantage of the large amount of information provided by the cadastre to study economic inequality in a pre-industrial society by looking at both wealth and income inequality. Compared to previous work on Western Europe, our results generally show high levels of inequality in rural Catalonia. However, inequality seems to be lower among those groups engaged in non-agricultural activities. Then, and given the traditional presence of proto-industrial activities in this area of Catalonia, we explore the effect of proto-industrial wool specialization on levels of inequality.</p>","PeriodicalId":44951,"journal":{"name":"Cliometrica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cliometrica","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11698-024-00289-0","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper analyses economic inequality in central Catalonia in the early 1720s using the information contained in cadastral tax records. The data set includes 2617 male taxpayers distributed across 17 rural villages. We take advantage of the large amount of information provided by the cadastre to study economic inequality in a pre-industrial society by looking at both wealth and income inequality. Compared to previous work on Western Europe, our results generally show high levels of inequality in rural Catalonia. However, inequality seems to be lower among those groups engaged in non-agricultural activities. Then, and given the traditional presence of proto-industrial activities in this area of Catalonia, we explore the effect of proto-industrial wool specialization on levels of inequality.
期刊介绍:
Cliometrica provides a leading forum for exchange of ideas and research in all facets, in all historical periods and in all geographical locations of historical economics. The journal encourages the methodological debate, the use of economic theory in general and model building in particular, the reliance upon quantification to buttress the models with historical data, the use of the more standard historical knowledge to broaden the understanding and suggesting new avenues of research, and the use of statistical theory and econometrics to combine models with data in a single consistent explanation. The highest standards of quality are promoted. All articles will be subject to Cliometrica''s peer review process. On occasion, specialised topics may be presented in a special issue.
Officially cited as: Cliometrica