Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Göteborg Papers in Economic History,
University of Gothenburg, Unit for Economic History
No 35: The persistence of wealth Economic inequality in a Caribbean slave colony in the very long run
Klas Rönnbäck (), Stefania Galli, Dimitrios Theodoridis and Kathrine Faust Larsen
Additional contact information
Klas Rönnbäck: Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Box 720, SE 40530 Göteborg, Sweden
Stefania Galli: Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Box 720, SE 40530 Göteborg, Sweden
Dimitrios Theodoridis: Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Box 720, SE 40530 Göteborg, Sweden
Kathrine Faust Larsen: Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Box 720, SE 40530 Göteborg, Sweden
Abstract: It has been proposed that slave societies were the most unequal societies in recorded human history. What little evidence there is shows an ambiguous picture. We contribute with a study on the wealth distribution in a Caribbean society, based on individual-level data for the full population, combining tax and census records into the largest comparable historical dataset from the Global South. Our results show a distribution of wealth shockingly close to perfect inequality. Our results also show a remarkable degree of persistence: even after slavery was abolished, the freedmen never managed to accumulate physical wealth to any measurable degree.
Keywords: Inequality; wealth; slavery; Caribbean; emancipation; long-term
Language: English
30 pages, February 1, 2024
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