Historical Social Tables: Advantages, Methodology, and Problems

Philipp Emanuel Erfurth, María Gómez León, Giacomo Gabbuti and Branko Milanovic

No 5nsqm_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

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. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

Date: 2026-01-29
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:5nsqm_v1

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/5nsqm_v1

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