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Inequality of Wealth in the Ottoman Empire: War, Weather, and Long-Term Trends in Eighteenth-Century Kastamonu

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  • COŞGEL, METIN M.
  • ERGENE, BOĞAÇ A.

Abstract

This article offers a quantitative analysis of wealth inequality in the Ottoman Empire, employing data from probate inventories (terekes) of eighteenth-century Kastamonu, a town located in northern Anatolia. Extracting information on wealth levels and personal characteristics of individuals, we estimate aggregate measures of wealth inequality, namely the Gini coefficient, the coefficient of variation, and the wealth shares of the wealthiest 10 and 25 percent of estates. We use regression analysis to identify the time trend of wealth inequality and determine how warfare, significant weather events, macroeconomic variables, and shifts in population characteristics affected it.

Suggested Citation

  • Coşgel, Metin M. & Ergene, Boğaç A., 2012. "Inequality of Wealth in the Ottoman Empire: War, Weather, and Long-Term Trends in Eighteenth-Century Kastamonu," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 308-331, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:72:y:2012:i:02:p:308-331_00
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. repec:ehl:wpaper:117250 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Jaime Reis, 2017. "Deviant behaviour? Inequality in Portugal 1565–1770," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 11(3), pages 297-319, September.
    4. Guido Alfani & Hector García Montero, 2022. "Wealth inequality in pre‐industrial England: A long‐term view (late thirteenth to sixteenth centuries)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1314-1348, November.
    5. Damian Clarke & Manuel Llorca Jaña & Daniel Pailañir, 2023. "The use of quantile methods in economic history," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 115-132, April.
    6. Schaff, Felix, 2020. "When ‘the state made war’, what happened to economic inequality? Evidence from preindustrial Germany (c.1400-1800)," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107046, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Ceylan, Pinar, 2022. "Measuring and explaining rural inequality in a pre-industrial setting: income inequality in sixteenth-century Ottoman Manisa," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117250, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Zeynep Dörtok Abacı & Jun Akiba & Metin Cosgel & Boğaç Ergene, 2022. "Judiciary and Wealth in the Ottoman Empire, 1689–1843," Working papers 2022-02, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    9. repec:ehl:wpaper:107046 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Marc Prat, 2025. "Inequality in rural Catalonia in the early eighteenth century," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 19(1), pages 195-247, January.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • N - Economic History

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