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Is The Kuznets Curve Still Alive? Evidence From Italian Household Budgets, 1881–1961

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  • Rossi, Nicola
  • Toniolo, Gianni
  • Vecchi, Giovanni

Abstract

We investigate secular changes in the distribution of personal expenditure in Italy. To this end we present a new data set, consisting of 4,370 family-level budgets scattered over the years 1881–1961. Our methodology is innovative for this kind of study. Italy's secular trend proves to have been egalitarian, and to have accelerated in periods of fast output growth. Sectoral, residential, and demographic changes associated with “modern economic growth” account for a minor part of the observed changes in expenditure distribution, suggesting that other factors, such as wage differentials, play a dominant role in explaining the dynamics of inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Rossi, Nicola & Toniolo, Gianni & Vecchi, Giovanni, 2001. "Is The Kuznets Curve Still Alive? Evidence From Italian Household Budgets, 1881–1961," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(4), pages 904-925, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:61:y:2001:i:04:p:904-925_04
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    Cited by:

    1. Edoardo Demo & Roberto Ricciuti & Mattia Viale, 2018. "Decomposing Economic Inequality in Early Modern Venice (ca. 1650-1800)," HHB Working Papers Series 12, The Historical Household Budgets Project.
    2. Marcella LORENZINI, 2018. "Expenditures and Food Consumption of a Patrician Family in Nineteenth-Century Trentino: the Bossi Fedrigotti," Departmental Working Papers 2018-11, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    3. Andrea Brandolini & Giovanni Vecchi, 2011. "The Well-Being of Italians: A Comparative Historical Approach," Quaderni di storia economica (Economic History Working Papers) 19, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    4. Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Marc Prat, 2022. "Pre-industrial inequality in Catalonia," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2022/430, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    5. Maria Gomez-Leon & Giacomo Gabbuti, 2021. "Wars, Depression, and Fascism: Income Inequality in Italy, 1900-1950," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra 2104, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.
    6. Vecchi, Giovanni & Coppola, Michela, 2006. "Nutrition and growth in Italy, 1861-1911: What macroeconomic data hide," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 438-464, July.
    7. Guido Alfani, 2017. "The rich in historical perspective: evidence for preindustrial Europe (ca. 1300–1800)," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 11(3), pages 321-348, September.
    8. Giacomo Gabbuti, 2020. "A Noi! Income Inequality and Italian Fascism: Evidence from Labour and Top Income Shares," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _177, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    9. Timothy Moran, 2005. "Bootstrapping the LIS: Statistical Inference and Patterns of Inequality in the Global North," LIS Working papers 378, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    10. Gazeley, Ian & Holmes, Rose & Newell, Andrew T. & Reynolds, Kevin & Gutierrez Rufrancos, Hector, 2018. "Inequality among European Working Households, 1890-1960," IZA Discussion Papers 11355, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Alfani, Guido, 2015. "Economic Inequality in Northwestern Italy: A Long-Term View (Fourteenth to Eighteenth Centuries)," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 75(4), pages 1058-1096, December.
    12. Michael Pammer, 2015. "Income inequality in Imperial Austria, 1911," Working Papers 15028, Economic History Society.
    13. Mollick, André Varella, 2012. "Income inequality in the U.S.: The Kuznets hypothesis revisited," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 127-144.
    14. Federica Di Battista, 2016. "Scared to be poor: Vulnerability and poverty in Great Britain at the beginning of the 20th century," HHB Working Papers Series 5, The Historical Household Budgets Project.
    15. Guido Alfani & Francesco Ammannati, 2017. "Long‐term trends in economic inequality: the case of the Florentine state, c. 1300–1800," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1072-1102, November.

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