Historical social tables: advantages, methodology, and problems

Philipp Erfurth, María Gómez León, Giacomo Gabbuti and Branko Milanovic
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Philipp Erfurth: University of Bologna
María Gómez León: Departament d’Anàlisi Econòmica, Universitat de València
Giacomo Gabbuti: Institute of Economics Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna Pisa

No 296, Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES)

Abstract: This paper provides a methodological contribution to the study of historical income inequality by examining the construction and use of social tables for the nineteenth century. In a period when modern household surveys were absent, social tables represent one of the only feasible approaches for providing distributional evidence for the entire population. At the same time, existing studies rely on a wide range of assumptions, classifications, and data treatments, which makes comparisons across countries and over time difficult. The paper reviews the main methodological challenges involved in constructing social tables, including class definitions, within-group inequality, units of analysis, and the external validation of income levels and subsistence benchmarks. Using simulations and historical examples, it shows how alternative methodological choices can generate substantial differences in inequality estimates. It finally proposes a set of guiding principles and template structures aimed at improving comparability, while still preserving the country-specific nature of historical evidence.

Keywords: Inequality; social tables; nineteenth century; global inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 D31 J31 N30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2026-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma
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https://ehes.org/wp/EHES_296.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Historical social tables: advantages, methodology, and problems (2026)
Working Paper: Historical social tables: advantages, methodology, and problems (2026)
Working Paper: Historical Social Tables: Advantages, Methodology, and Problems (2026)
Working Paper: Historical social tables: advantages, methodology, and problems (2026)
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