Replication: What Happened to the Incomes of the Rich during the Great Levelling? Evidence from Swedish Individual-level Data, 1909–1950

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Erik Bengtsson, Department of Economic History, Lund University; Jakob Molinder, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University

Version:  View help for Version V1

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replication.zip application/zip 396.4 KB 09/19/2023 06:49:AM

Project Citation: 

Bengtsson, Erik, and Molinder, Jakob. Replication: What Happened to the Incomes of the Rich during the Great Levelling? Evidence from Swedish Individual-level Data, 1909–1950. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-09-20. https://doi.org/10.3886/E193925V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary
We use individual-level income data, from archived taxation lists, to study top-income earners in Sweden from 1909 to 1950. Using information on 21,055 individual tax-payers in two elite areas in greater Stockholm, we show that top incomes fell in real terms over this period, at a stable pace without obvious connection to the Depression or the World Wars. The peak of inequality was related to the early stages of a Only
globalized economy with Schumpeterian entrepreneurial profits; the decline was related to sharpened competition, driving down profits, as well as increased regulation, expansion of education, and eroded position of professionals.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources Swedish Research Council (2018-01853); Jan Wallanders och Tom Hedelius stiftelse (P18-0197)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms incomes; inequality
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Sweden
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1909 – 1950


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V1 [2023-09-20]

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