2001
DOI: 10.1017/s0022050701042024
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IS THE KUZNETS CURVE STILL ALIVE? EVIDENCE FROM ITALIAN HOUSEHOLD BUDGETS, 1881–1961

Abstract: We investigate secular changes in the distribution of personal expenditure in Italy. To this end we present a new data set, consisting of 4,370 family-level budgets scattered over the years 1881–1961. Our methodology is innovative for this kind of study. Italy's secular trend proves to have been egalitarian, and to have accelerated in periods of fast output growth. Sectoral, residential, and demographic changes associated with “modern economic growth” account for a minor part of the observed changes in expendi… Show more

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Cited by 42 publications
(18 citation statements)
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“…Secondly, a high per capita calorie availability is consistent with the presence of a sizable part of the population trying to make ends meet, provided a substantial degree of income inequality can be assumed. This is precisely the finding of Rossi, Toniolo and Vecchi (2001): in 1881 about 7 per cent of total income accrued to the bottom 20 percent of the population, as opposed to 53 per cent accruing to the top 20 percent.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 52%
See 1 more Smart Citation
“…Secondly, a high per capita calorie availability is consistent with the presence of a sizable part of the population trying to make ends meet, provided a substantial degree of income inequality can be assumed. This is precisely the finding of Rossi, Toniolo and Vecchi (2001): in 1881 about 7 per cent of total income accrued to the bottom 20 percent of the population, as opposed to 53 per cent accruing to the top 20 percent.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 52%
“…******** Between 1881 and 1901 the real GDP per head increased by 18 percent; during the same period, the inequality in the distribution of total family expenses diminished (Rossi et al (2001)). A process of growth not sterilized by increases in inequality must imply a reduction in absolute poverty; this is algebraically certain.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…A good overview of most of the historical work on income inequality can be found in Milanovic, Lindert and Williamson (2007), and at the Global Income and Prices website at UC Davis. 3 Additional recent work has been done, for example, by Bertola et al (2009) for parts of South America, Rossi et al (2001) for Italy, Bergson (1984) for the Soviet Union, and Soltow and van Zanden (1998a) for the netherlands.…”
Section: Historical Sourcesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Recent historical literature has challenged this venerable hypothesis (Lindert 2000;Rossi et al 2001;Milanovic et al 2007). In the case of Spain, inequality over time suggests an inverted W rather than the Kuznetsian inverted U.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…40 Contrary to the usual assumption of 38 Without taking into account the massive work produced by Atkinson, Piketty, Saez and their associates, as they concentrate on top income shares. 39 Data on Gini coefficients for OECD countries come from WIDER and Deininger and Squire (1996, updated) completed with Flora (1983) and Morrisson (2000) for Denmark and Norway; Rossi, Toniolo and Vecchi (2001) for Italy; Lindert (2000) for the USA; Lindert (2000) and Williamson (1985) high and enduring inequality in Latin America since the colonial times, an upward trend up to the 1960s brought inequality to the high plateau where it stabilised for the rest of the twentieth century. Spain and Latin America followed similar patterns until the mid 1950s, when Spain shifted away to converge towards OECD inequality levels.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%