Replication: Swedish income inequality in 1613
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Martin Andersson, Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Jakob Molinder, Department of Economic History, Uppsala Univeristy
Version: View help for Version V1
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Project Citation:
Andersson, Martin, and Molinder, Jakob. Replication: Swedish income inequality in 1613. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-01-08. https://doi.org/10.3886/E197001V1
Project Description
Summary:
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In this paper we present the first estimate of the full income distribution in preindustrial Sweden (including present-day Finland). We draw on the schedule and the individual assessments devised by the authorities to distribute the 1613 Älvsborg ransom taxation to estimate income inequality, as well as the income shares of the top quantiles and of various social groups. We find that Sweden was relatively equal compared to other Early Modern European societies, for two main reasons: first, because the nobility, the clergy, the burghers, and other middle-rank social groups all held relatively small shares of the total income, and second, because the landless groups were less numerous in Sweden than in other societies. This resulted in a large share of the total income going to the relatively homogeneous group of landed peasants, who made up the majority of the population. Our study thus speak to the political historiography of Early Modern Sweden, within which negotiation and collaboration between the landed peasantry and the state has been seen as pivotal to the state formation process.
Scope of Project
Subject Terms:
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inequality;
income distribution;
top incomes;
Sweden;
early modern period
Geographic Coverage:
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Sweden,
Finland
Time Period(s):
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1613 – 1613 (1613)
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