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Income Mobility before Industrialization: Evidence from South Africa’s Cape Colony

Fourie, Johan ; Green, Erik LU ; Rijpma, Auke and von Fintel, Dieter (2024) In Social Science History p.1-30
Abstract
Attempts to measure social mobility before the twentieth century are frequently hampered by limited data. In this paper, we use a new source – annual, matched tax censuses over more than 70 years – to calculate intragenerational income mobility within a preindustrial, settler society, the Dutch and British Cape Colony at the southern tip of Africa. Our unique source allows us to measure income mobility along several dimensions, helping to disentangle reasons for the high levels of persistence we find.
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
income mobility, social mobility, settler economies, South Africa, Cape Colony
in
Social Science History
article number
First view
pages
30 pages
publisher
Cambridge University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85204053399
ISSN
0145-5532
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4923c929-cc2e-4709-b230-c6247d895ba0
alternative location
https://doi.org/10.1017/ssh.2024.24
date added to LUP
2024-11-11 12:53:55
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:29:14
@article{4923c929-cc2e-4709-b230-c6247d895ba0,
  abstract     = {{Attempts to measure social mobility before the twentieth century are frequently hampered by limited data. In this paper, we use a new source – annual, matched tax censuses over more than 70 years – to calculate intragenerational income mobility within a preindustrial, settler society, the Dutch and British Cape Colony at the southern tip of Africa. Our unique source allows us to measure income mobility along several dimensions, helping to disentangle reasons for the high levels of persistence we find.}},
  author       = {{Fourie, Johan and Green, Erik and Rijpma, Auke and von Fintel, Dieter}},
  issn         = {{0145-5532}},
  keywords     = {{income mobility; social mobility; settler economies; South Africa; Cape Colony}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  pages        = {{1--30}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Social Science History}},
  title        = {{Income Mobility before Industrialization: Evidence from South Africa’s Cape Colony}},
  url          = {{https://doi.org/10.1017/ssh.2024.24}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}