Estimating long-term socioeconomic inequality in southern Europe: The Barcelona area, 1481–1880

Gabriel Brea-Martínez and Joana-Maria Pujadas-Mora

European Review of Economic History, 2019, vol. 23, issue 4, 397-420

Abstract: This article estimates the patterns of socioeconomic inequality in the Barcelona area during the period 1481–1880 using the Marriage License Books from the Diocese of Barcelona, a unique fiscal source that ranged society from nobility, the highest level of payment, to the poor, exempted from taxation. These taxes together with the social status information of each individual allow setting fiscal progressivity and an approach to human capital. The results show how the levels of inequality were higher in preindustrial periods. However, industrialization with a deskilling occupational process and the emergence of a new working class reinforced the socioeconomic disparity due to the effects of proletarianization.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/hey017 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:23:y:2019:i:4:p:397-420.

Access Statistics for this article

European Review of Economic History is currently edited by Christopher M. Meissner, Steven Nafziger and Alessandro Nuvolari

More articles in European Review of Economic History from European Historical Economics Society
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().