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How Equality Created Poverty in Preindustrial Japan, 1600–1870

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  • Yuzuru Kumon

Abstract

Despite well-developed economic institutions, premodern Japan, 1600–1868, had among the lowest real wages according to available estimates, around half those in preindustrial England. However, many Japanese peasants owned land, unlike their mostly landless English counterparts, due to institutional differences in land inheritance. Using a Malthusian model, I show that this greater landownership equality paradoxically led to Japan's lower wages and GDP per capita. Evidence from Japanese village censuses supports the mechanism. If, as many historians believe, high wages in Western Europe spurred industrialization, Japan's failure to industrialize first could have been shaped by its unusual preindustrial equality.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuzuru Kumon, 2026. "How Equality Created Poverty in Preindustrial Japan, 1600–1870," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 18(2), pages 147-176, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:18:y:2026:i:2:p:147-76
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20240355
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Clark, Gregory & Cummins, Neil & Curtis, Matthew, 2024. "How did the European Marriage Pattern persist? Social versus familial inheritance: England and Quebec, 1650–1850," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    2. Dennison,Tracy, 2011. "The Institutional Framework of Russian Serfdom," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521194488, Enero-Abr.
    3. Kumon, Yuzuru, 2022. "The Labor-Intensive Path: Wages, Incomes, and the Work Year in Japan, 1610–1890," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(2), pages 368-402, June.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • N15 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N45 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N55 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Asia including Middle East

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