@misc{08a0c50d-94b1-4168-86a3-c4c1246d0187,
  abstract     = {{We study the relationship between the structural transformation of the economy and the<br/>income distribution, focusing on the case of Sweden from 1870 to 1970, with extra attention<br/>paid to the 1870–1950 period, for which we produce extensive new data. Average income<br/>increased fivefold between 1870 and 1950, and the share employed in agriculture declined<br/>from 72 to 23 per cent. To study the evolution of the income distribution, we collected new<br/>data, including 232,000 individual income tax returns, 13,000 property tax returns, and a<br/>rich set of complementary sources. Using these micro data, we calculate Gini coefficients,<br/>top income shares, capital shares, skill premia, and occupation- and gender-specific income<br/>levels and ratios, providing new evidence on the long-run evolution of income and inequality.<br/>Our income data and decomposition analyses demonstrate that the shift of labour out of<br/>agriculture, which was a severely unequal sector in Sweden in the late nineteenth and early<br/>twentieth centuries, accounts for much of the decline in income inequality, together with<br/>the expansion of more productive jobs in manufacturing and offices. This process was aided<br/>by labour mobility, as well as by educational and other policies that facilitated structural<br/>transformation. Focusing on structural transformation can help explain two paradoxes in the<br/>literature on twentieth century income inequality: that much equalisation occurred before<br/>the growth of the welfare state, and that non-belligerents in the World Wars, like Sweden,<br/>saw similar levels of equalisation as belligerent countries.}},
  author       = {{Bengtsson, Erik and Molinder, Jakob and Prado, Svante}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{14}},
  publisher    = {{World Inequality Lab}},
  series       = {{World Inequality Lab Working Paper}},
  title        = {{Income Inequality and Structural Transformation: Evidence from Swedish Micro Data, 1870–1970}},
  url          = {{https://prod.wid.world/www-site/uploads/2026/06/WorldInequalityLab_WP2026_14_Income-Inequality-and-Structural-Transformation_Evidence-from-Swedish-Microdata-1870%E2%80%931970_Final.pdf}},
  volume       = {{2026}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}