Long‐term trends in economic inequality: the case of the Florentine state, c. 1300–1800

Abstract

This article provides an overview of economic inequality, particularly of wealth, in the Florentine state (Tuscany) from the early fourteenth to the late eighteenth century. Regional studies of this kind are rare, and this is only the second‐ever attempt at covering such a long period. Consistent with recent research conducted on other European areas, during the early modern period we find clear indications of a tendency for economic inequality to grow continually, a finding that for Tuscany cannot be explained as the consequence of economic growth. Furthermore, the exceptionally old sources we use allow us to demonstrate that a phase of declining inequality, lasting about one century, was triggered by the Black Death from 1348 to 1349. This finding challenges earlier scholarship and significantly alters our understanding of the economic consequences of the Black Death.

Economic Inequality in Preindustrial Germany, ca. 1300 – 1850

“…As in many instances we simply have no information about the prevalence of the propertyless, we removed them entirely from our distributions. This simple standardization is needed to ensure comparability, according to a common procedure in recent studies of preindustrial inequality (Alfani 2015;Alfani and Ammannati 2017). Also note that the fiscal sources that we use, although they do not always record the propertyless, are still considered by the literature the best suited to capture the extent of poverty, because alternatives -such as benefice registers (Pfründeregister) -exclude even larger parts of the lower classes (Dirlmeier 1978, p.…”

“…Recent years have seen a flourishing of studies on preindustrial inequality, which have added considerably to the amount of information available to explore the dynamics and the underlying causes of inequality change in the very long run. We now have good-quality, data-rich reconstructions of long-term trends in (mostly wealth, sometimes income) inequality for many parts of Italy (Alfani 2015;2017;Alfani and Sardone 2015;Alfani and Ryckbosch 2016;Alfani and Ammannati 2017;, Spain (Santiago-Caballero 2011; García-Montero 2015; Alfani 2017), Portugal (Reis 2017), the Low Countries (Van Zanden 1995;Ryckbosch 2016;Alfani and Ryckbosch 2016;Alfani 2017) and Sweden (Bengtsson et al 2018). Some of these reconstructions cover many centuries.…”

“…But, in almost all areas object of large-scale reconstructions, inequality was found to have been on the rise since at least the beginning of the early modern period, so that on the eve of industrialization it was already relatively high. This raises many questions about the underlying causes of inequality change, which can no longer be simply indicated in economic growth (as the evidence for preindustrial times suggests that inequality growth occurred also in phases of economic stagnation or decline : Alfani 2010b;Alfani and Ryckbosch 2016;Alfani and Ammannati 2017;. In this sense, studies of preindustrial inequality contribute significantly to current debates on recent trends, mostly triggered by the publication of Piketty's famous book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2014), but also the new take on the general Kuznetsian argument proposed by Milanovic (2016).…”

Deviant behaviour? Inequality in Portugal 1565–1770

“…It thus yields indirectly an estimation of the rental value of all residences and is therefore a source for the distribution of rents. In keeping with other recent early modern studies, we assume it is a reasonable guide for the household income distribution of the places observed (van Zanden 1995;Ryckbosch 2016;Alfani and Ammannati 2016;Hanus 2013).…”

Plague and long‐term development: the lasting effects of the 1629–30 epidemic on the Italian cities

“…Alfani, ‘Economic inequality’, pp. 1077–80; Alfani and Ammannati, ‘Long‐term trends in economic inequality’, pp. 1088–92.…”