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Russian Inequality on the Eve of Revolution

Author

Listed:
  • Lindert, Peter H.
  • Nafziger, Steven

Abstract

Careful handling of an eclectic data set reveals how unequal were the incomes of different classes of Russians on the eve of Revolution. We estimate incomes by economic and social class in each of the fifty provinces of European Russia. On the eve of military defeat and the 1905 Revolution, Russian income inequality was middling by the standards of that era, and less severe than is inequality today in China, the United States, and Russia itself. We note how the interplay of some distinctive fiscal and relative-price features of Imperial Russia might have shaped the now-revealed level of inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Lindert, Peter H. & Nafziger, Steven, 2014. "Russian Inequality on the Eve of Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 767-798, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:74:y:2014:i:03:p:767-798_00
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Soviet and Russian Inequality: Was the Soviet System Pro-Poor? by Mark Harrison
      by Mark Harrison in Mark Harrison's blog on 2017-10-13 13:44:00

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Popov, Vladimir, 2024. "Китайская Модель: Ретроспектива И Перспектива [The Chinese model: Retrospective and perspective]," MPRA Paper 121802, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Ekaterina Zhuravskaya & Sergei Guriev & Andrei Markevich, 2024. "New Russian Economic History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 47-114, March.
    3. Milanovic, Branko, 2024. "How rich were the rich? An empirically-based taxonomy of pre-industrial bases of wealth," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Popov, Vladimir & Konchakov, Roman & Didenko, Dmitry, 2023. "Factors of social tension in the provinces of the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries," MPRA Paper 118464, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Modalsli, Jørgen, 2018. "The regional dispersion of income inequality in nineteenth-century Norway," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 62-79.
    6. Suesse, Marvin & Grigoriadis, Theocharis, 2025. "Financing Late Industrialization: Evidence from the State Bank of the Russian Empire," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(4), pages 1170-1206, December.
    7. Elena Korchmina & Mikołaj Malinowski, 2024. "How extractive was Russian Serfdom? Income inequality in Moscow Province in the early 19th century," Working Papers 0266, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    8. Milanovic, Branko, 2013. "The inequality possibility frontier: the extensions and new applications," Comparative Institutional Analysis Working Paper Series 2013:1, Lund University, Comparative Institutional Analysis, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Lindert, Peter H. & Nafziger, Steven, 2014. "Russian Inequality on the Eve of Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 767-798, September.
    10. Peter H. Lindert & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2017. "Inequality in the very long run: Malthus, Kuznets, and Ohlin," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 11(3), pages 289-295, September.
    11. Filip Novokmet & Thomas Piketty & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "From Soviets to oligarchs: inequality and property in Russia 1905-2016," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(2), pages 189-223, June.
    12. Marcin Wroński, 2023. "Income distribution in Warsaw in the 1830s," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 27(4), pages 581-605.
    13. Lychakov, Nikita, 2019. "From financial crisis to revolution: Russia 1899-1905," MPRA Paper 95166, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Nikolić, Stefan & Novokmet, Filip & Larysz, Piotr Paweł, 2024. "Income inequality in Eastern Europe: Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia in the twentieth century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    15. 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.
    16. repec:osf:socarx:dvu74_v1 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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