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

Erik Bengtsson and Jakob Molinder

The Journal of Economic History, 2025, vol. 85, issue 2, 411-441

Abstract: 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 taxpayers 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 Great Depression or the world wars. The peak of inequality was related to the early stages of a 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.

Date: 2025
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