Wars, Depression, and Fascism: Income Inequality in Italy, 1900-1950

Maria Gomez Leon and Giacomo Gabbuti
Additional contact information
Maria Gomez Leon: Universitat de Valencia

No 2401, Documentos de Trabajo EH-Valencia (DT-EHV) from Economic History group at the Universitat de Valencia

Abstract: This paper presents yearly estimates of income inequality in Italy from 1900 to 1950. By constructing dynamic social tables, we comprehensively assess inequality across all components of Italian society and compare Italy with Britain, Germany, and Spain over the same period. In a context of declining inequality across Europe, interwar Italy reveals a trajectory at odds with the narratives on the interwar period: a strong increase of inequality during WWI, markedly reversed during 1918-1922, resumed after the March on Rome, and reaching new peaks during WWII. Indeed, while allowing us to reveal sizeable short-term distributive shocks in Italy and to discuss the political economy of fascist Italy, our results consolidate the reinterpretation of inequality trends in interwar Europe and the regressive nature of fascist regimes.

Keywords: Fascist Italy; income inequality; interwar Europe; dynamic social tables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 E24 E25 J31 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-his
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.ehvalencia.es/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DT_EHV_2024_01.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Wars, Depression, and Fascism: Income Inequality in Italy, 1900-1950 (2022)
Working Paper: Wars, Depression, and Fascism: Income Inequality in Italy, 1900-1950 (2021)
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:bci:wpaper:2401

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Documentos de Trabajo EH-Valencia (DT-EHV) from Economic History group at the Universitat de Valencia
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Alfonso Diez Minguela ().