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National income and its distribution in preindustrial Poland in a global perspective

Malinowski, Mikołaj LU and Luiten van Zanden, Jan (2015) In Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES)
Abstract
This paper presents estimates of the level of per capita GDP and of the distribution of income of preindustrial Poland. This is based on a reconstruction of a social table of the Voivodeship of Cracow for 1578. Our evidence indicates that income in Poland was distributed more equally than in contemporary Holland. However, the extraction rate in the Voivodeship was much higher than in the North Sea area. Furthermore, income inequality in the countryside of the Voivodeship was higher than inequality in Cracow. This can be linked to the demesne economy based on serfdom that was prevalent in the agricultural sector. Moreover, on the basis of trends in real wages and urbanisation levels, we project Polish GDP forwards and backwards in time. Our... (More)
This paper presents estimates of the level of per capita GDP and of the distribution of income of preindustrial Poland. This is based on a reconstruction of a social table of the Voivodeship of Cracow for 1578. Our evidence indicates that income in Poland was distributed more equally than in contemporary Holland. However, the extraction rate in the Voivodeship was much higher than in the North Sea area. Furthermore, income inequality in the countryside of the Voivodeship was higher than inequality in Cracow. This can be linked to the demesne economy based on serfdom that was prevalent in the agricultural sector. Moreover, on the basis of trends in real wages and urbanisation levels, we project Polish GDP forwards and backwards in time. Our results indicate that by as early as the 15th century, Polish per capita GDP was below that of other Western European countries. This persisted despite a moderate growth of the Polish economy in the 16th century. Subsequently, due to a strong contraction, Poland in the 17th century became even poorer than Asian economies for which similar estimates are available. In the 18th century Poland recovered slightly but continued to lag behind the rest of Western Europe. (Less)
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author
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publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Economic growth, Income inequality, ÔGreat DivergenceÕ, Poland, Extraction ratio, Serfdom, N13, N33
in
Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES)
issue
76
publisher
European Historical Economics Society
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
3f3e0018-ede5-4104-a106-8396d478ec8c
alternative location
http://www.ehes.org/EHES_76.pdf
date added to LUP
2016-09-06 17:07:36
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:25:42
@misc{3f3e0018-ede5-4104-a106-8396d478ec8c,
  abstract     = {{This paper presents estimates of the level of per capita GDP and of the distribution of income of preindustrial Poland. This is based on a reconstruction of a social table of the Voivodeship of Cracow for 1578. Our evidence indicates that income in Poland was distributed more equally than in contemporary Holland. However, the extraction rate in the Voivodeship was much higher than in the North Sea area. Furthermore, income inequality in the countryside of the Voivodeship was higher than inequality in Cracow. This can be linked to the demesne economy based on serfdom that was prevalent in the agricultural sector. Moreover, on the basis of trends in real wages and urbanisation levels, we project Polish GDP forwards and backwards in time. Our results indicate that by as early as the 15th century, Polish per capita GDP was below that of other Western European countries. This persisted despite a moderate growth of the Polish economy in the 16th century. Subsequently, due to a strong contraction, Poland in the 17th century became even poorer than Asian economies for which similar estimates are available. In the 18th century Poland recovered slightly but continued to lag behind the rest of Western Europe.}},
  author       = {{Malinowski, Mikołaj and Luiten van Zanden, Jan}},
  keywords     = {{Economic growth; Income inequality; ÔGreat DivergenceÕ; Poland; Extraction ratio; Serfdom; N13; N33}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{76}},
  publisher    = {{European Historical Economics Society}},
  series       = {{Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES)}},
  title        = {{National income and its distribution in preindustrial Poland in a global perspective}},
  url          = {{http://www.ehes.org/EHES_76.pdf}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}