Income inequality in an industrial city during the great levelling: micro level evidence from malmö, 1900–1950
(2022) In Scandinavian Economic History Review 71(1).- Abstract
- This paper contributes to the debate on historical income inequality, and especially on the decrease in inequality found in industrialised countries during the first half of the twentieth century. We use new archival individual – and household-level data for taxpayers in Sweden’s third- largest city, Malmö, from 1900 to 1950. Previous research has established that Sweden had a distinctive downturn in income inequality during the first half of the twentieth century, and explanations have not the least focused on capital incomes and taxes. With our original data we shed light on what happened to working- class and middle-class incomes, and show the importance of job upgrading of the working-class, the decline of domestic service and women’s... (More)
- This paper contributes to the debate on historical income inequality, and especially on the decrease in inequality found in industrialised countries during the first half of the twentieth century. We use new archival individual – and household-level data for taxpayers in Sweden’s third- largest city, Malmö, from 1900 to 1950. Previous research has established that Sweden had a distinctive downturn in income inequality during the first half of the twentieth century, and explanations have not the least focused on capital incomes and taxes. With our original data we shed light on what happened to working- class and middle-class incomes, and show the importance of job upgrading of the working-class, the decline of domestic service and women’s enhanced position on the labour market, and declining market incomes for top income earners in changing Malmö’s income distribution. We compare pre-tax and post-tax distributions, and the distribution on the individual level and the household level. With the new micro data, a richer account of income growth and income distribution in twentieth century Sweden is provided. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/9ef8a99d-c234-4989-ab89-0d4afcd6a616
- author
- Svensson, Anton LU and Bengtsson, Erik LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-11-29
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Scandinavian Economic History Review
- volume
- 71
- issue
- 1
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85143222494
- ISSN
- 1750-2837
- DOI
- 10.1080/03585522.2022.2143419
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9ef8a99d-c234-4989-ab89-0d4afcd6a616
- date added to LUP
- 2022-11-30 09:52:53
- date last changed
- 2023-04-18 13:23:25
@article{9ef8a99d-c234-4989-ab89-0d4afcd6a616,
abstract = {{This paper contributes to the debate on historical income inequality, and especially on the decrease in inequality found in industrialised countries during the first half of the twentieth century. We use new archival individual – and household-level data for taxpayers in Sweden’s third- largest city, Malmö, from 1900 to 1950. Previous research has established that Sweden had a distinctive downturn in income inequality during the first half of the twentieth century, and explanations have not the least focused on capital incomes and taxes. With our original data we shed light on what happened to working- class and middle-class incomes, and show the importance of job upgrading of the working-class, the decline of domestic service and women’s enhanced position on the labour market, and declining market incomes for top income earners in changing Malmö’s income distribution. We compare pre-tax and post-tax distributions, and the distribution on the individual level and the household level. With the new micro data, a richer account of income growth and income distribution in twentieth century Sweden is provided.}},
author = {{Svensson, Anton and Bengtsson, Erik}},
issn = {{1750-2837}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Scandinavian Economic History Review}},
title = {{Income inequality in an industrial city during the great levelling: micro level evidence from malmö, 1900–1950}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03585522.2022.2143419}},
doi = {{10.1080/03585522.2022.2143419}},
volume = {{71}},
year = {{2022}},
}