Wealth, Inheritance, and Concentration: Italy and Its Regions From the Unification to the Great War

Giacomo Gabbuti and Salvatore Morelli

Review of Income and Wealth, 2025, vol. 71, issue 3

Abstract: In the economic history of post‐unification Italy, the question of wealth has been largely neglected. We fill this gap with a new set of estimates of wealth concentration from 1863 to 1914, using national inheritance tax tabulations, combined with existing micro‐data for the cities of Milan and Naples. While the level of our estimates for this period is among the highest ever recorded for Italy, we find no trend, nor the classic North–South divide. The wealth of present‐day billionaires—derived using a novel long‐run “rich list” as a multiple of GDP per capita—is higher than that of the past. Private wealth and bequest flow as a share of national income follow a U‐turn dynamic, with historical and present levels aligned. Overall, the paper lays the basis for a long‐run view of wealth in modern Italy and reconsiders the impact of its industrialization at the end of the Liberal period.

Date: 2025
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