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Towards an explanation of inequality in premodern societies: the role of colonies, urbanization, and high population density
Author(s) -
Milanovic Branko
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.014
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1468-0289
pISSN - 0013-0117
DOI - 10.1111/ehr.12613
Subject(s) - inequality , elite , urbanization , social inequality , population , economic geography , economics , demographic economics , development economics , sociology , geography , demography , economic growth , political science , mathematics , law , mathematical analysis , politics
Using a newly expanded set of 41 social tables from premodern societies, this article tries to identify the factors associated with the level of inequality and the inequality extraction ratio (how close to the maximum inequality the elites have pushed actual inequality). Strong evidence is found to show that elites in colonies were more extractive, and that more densely populated and less urbanized countries exhibited lower extraction ratios. Several possibilities are proposed, linking high population density to low inequality and to low elite extraction.