Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/303272 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
EHES Working Paper No. 266
Publisher: 
European Historical Economics Society (EHES), s.l.
Abstract: 
We measure pre- and post-tax income inequality in Moscow Province in 1811. We collect new data on incomes for 7,399 asset-holding households, including all registered aristocrats and merchants. We estimate the average incomes of 21 additional social groups using financial records from government and private businesses. Combining this data, we construct a social table and measure top-tier income concentration, Gini coefficient, and the Extraction Ratio. Our findings reveal that serfdom resulted in high inequality and extraction levels as well as low social mobility in spite of low levels of enforcement by the state. We compare our results with those for 1904 and find that, in spite despite emancipation, inequality remained high during the 19th century. Those findings are emblematic of deep historical roots and the persistence of high inequality levels in Russia.
Subjects: 
Russian Empire
Wealth
Income
Inequality
Pre-Industrial World
JEL: 
N00
N13
N33
J16
D63
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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