INEQUALITY IN AN EARLY 20TH CENTURY SIBERIAN CITY ACCORDING TO THE DATA OF POPULATION REGISTRATION FOR THE APARTMENT TAX CALCULATION (BARNAUL, 1910)

Abstract

The problem of inequality of the late imperial Russia population is studied for the first time on the materials of “Statements of homeowners for the apartment tax”. The source contains primary data for the city of Barnaul for 1910 on the cost of rent for homeowners and tenants, both for wealthy citizens (subject for taxation) and the poor (exempt from the tax). The decile coefficient of inequality was 8.6. Taking into account the specific features of the source, one should think that the indicator of income inequality of the Barnaul population was even higher. Comparison of decile coefficients, as well as the absolute size of the house rental cost, for different groups of the Barnaul population made it possible to conclude that inequality is interconnected with two important features of the urban life. First, the decile coefficient of inequality among immigrants turned out to be much lower than among those assigned to the city. Second, the groups of homeowners and tenants, by contrast, were similar in terms of the decile coefficient of inequality, but significantly different in terms of the average house rental cost. The study provides new statistical data for discussing the problem of inequality in the early 20th century Russia, introduces into circulation previously unused characteristics of the urban society of that period and opens up the possibility of comparing different cities on the basis of sources newly introduced into scientific circulation.