Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Income taxes and redistribution in the early twentieth century

Torregrosa-Hetland, Sara LU and Sabaté, Oriol (2025) In Economic History Review
Abstract

This paper examines the distributive effects of personal income taxation in Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. We estimate the evolution of marginal and average effective tax rates across the income distribution and calculate the corresponding indices of progressivity and redistribution. Our results show that redistribution through income taxation increased during the period with varying intensity and mechanisms. During the First World War, this was a joint effect of increases in the amount of revenue collected and progressivity. In contrast, during the Second World War, revenue increased again, but progressivity diminished.

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
income tax, progressivity, redistribution, taxation, world wars
in
Economic History Review
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:105009350996
ISSN
0013-0117
DOI
10.1111/ehr.70026
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6b354404-3630-4cd0-8fd1-e1b78b7d18f0
date added to LUP
2026-01-14 15:08:00
date last changed
2026-01-14 15:08:56
@article{6b354404-3630-4cd0-8fd1-e1b78b7d18f0,
  abstract     = {{<p>This paper examines the distributive effects of personal income taxation in Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. We estimate the evolution of marginal and average effective tax rates across the income distribution and calculate the corresponding indices of progressivity and redistribution. Our results show that redistribution through income taxation increased during the period with varying intensity and mechanisms. During the First World War, this was a joint effect of increases in the amount of revenue collected and progressivity. In contrast, during the Second World War, revenue increased again, but progressivity diminished.</p>}},
  author       = {{Torregrosa-Hetland, Sara and Sabaté, Oriol}},
  issn         = {{0013-0117}},
  keywords     = {{income tax; progressivity; redistribution; taxation; world wars}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Economic History Review}},
  title        = {{Income taxes and redistribution in the early twentieth century}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ehr.70026}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/ehr.70026}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}