Colonial Rule, Apartheid and Natural Resources: Top Incomes in South Africa 1903-2005

Facundo Alvaredo () and Anthony Atkinson

No 46, OxCarre Working Papers from Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford

Abstract: There have been important studies of overall income inequality and of poverty in South Africa. In this paper, we approach the subject from a different direction: the extent and evolution of top incomes. We present estimates of the shares in total income of groups such as the top 1 per cent and the top 0.1 per cent, covering, with gaps, more than a hundred years. In order to explain the observed dynamics, here we consider —in a preliminary way— three factors: the transfer of political authority, racial discrimination, and the rich mineral resources. The estimates of top income shares for recent years bear out the picture of South Africa as a highly unequal country.

Date: 2010-06-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev, nep-env and nep-his
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:046

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