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Mercantilist Inequality: Wealth and Poverty in Stockholm 1650–1750

Bengtsson, Erik LU ; Olsson, Mats LU and Svensson, Patrick (2022) In Economic History Review 75(1). p.157-180
Abstract
This article describes and analyses social structure, poverty, wealth, and economic inequality in Stockholm from 1650 to 1750. We begin by establishing the social structure, using census data and other sources. To study wealth and poverty, the main sources are a complete record of the wealth tax of 1715, comprising 17,782 taxpayers, and a total of 1,125 probate inventories sampled from the years 1650, 1700, and 1750. These provide detailed and sometimes surprising insights into the living standards of both the poor and the rich. Stockholm in this period was a starkly unequal city, with the top decile of wealth holders owning about 90 per cent of total wealth. We relate this inequality to mercantilist policies. The city was run as an... (More)
This article describes and analyses social structure, poverty, wealth, and economic inequality in Stockholm from 1650 to 1750. We begin by establishing the social structure, using census data and other sources. To study wealth and poverty, the main sources are a complete record of the wealth tax of 1715, comprising 17,782 taxpayers, and a total of 1,125 probate inventories sampled from the years 1650, 1700, and 1750. These provide detailed and sometimes surprising insights into the living standards of both the poor and the rich. Stockholm in this period was a starkly unequal city, with the top decile of wealth holders owning about 90 per cent of total wealth. We relate this inequality to mercantilist policies. The city was run as an oligarchy and the oligarchical political institutions engendered policies that were rigged for inequality. The case of Stockholm thus shows the need for the historical inequality literature to consider class and power relations to understand the determinants of inequality. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Economic History Review
volume
75
issue
1
pages
157 - 180
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85105927964
ISSN
1468-0289
DOI
10.1111/ehr.13081
project
Wages, economic performance and inequality. Scandinavia in the ‘Little Divergence’ in Europe
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
815782b8-7702-4022-a27c-f0c5886e5924
date added to LUP
2021-02-18 14:39:53
date last changed
2022-04-19 04:40:39
@article{815782b8-7702-4022-a27c-f0c5886e5924,
  abstract     = {{This article describes and analyses social structure, poverty, wealth, and economic inequality in Stockholm from 1650 to 1750. We begin by establishing the social structure, using census data and other sources. To study wealth and poverty, the main sources are a complete record of the wealth tax of 1715, comprising 17,782 taxpayers, and a total of 1,125 probate inventories sampled from the years 1650, 1700, and 1750. These provide detailed and sometimes surprising insights into the living standards of both the poor and the rich. Stockholm in this period was a starkly unequal city, with the top decile of wealth holders owning about 90 per cent of total wealth. We relate this inequality to mercantilist policies. The city was run as an oligarchy and the oligarchical political institutions engendered policies that were rigged for inequality. The case of Stockholm thus shows the need for the historical inequality literature to consider class and power relations to understand the determinants of inequality.}},
  author       = {{Bengtsson, Erik and Olsson, Mats and Svensson, Patrick}},
  issn         = {{1468-0289}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{157--180}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Economic History Review}},
  title        = {{Mercantilist Inequality: Wealth and Poverty in Stockholm 1650–1750}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ehr.13081}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/ehr.13081}},
  volume       = {{75}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}