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Top Incomes in Germany, 1871–2014

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  • Bartels, Charlotte

Abstract

This study provides new evidence on top income shares in Germany from industrialization to the present. Income concentration was high in the nineteenth century, dropped sharply after WWI and during the hyperinflation years of the 1920s, then increased rapidly throughout the Nazi period beginning in the 1930s. Following the end of WWII, German top income shares returned to 1920s levels. The German pattern stands in contrast to developments in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, where WWII brought a sizeable and lasting reduction in top income shares. Since the turn of the millennium, income concentration in Germany has been on the rise and is today among the highest in Europe. The capital share is consistently positively associated with income concentration, whereas growth, technological change, trade, unions, and top tax rates are positively associated in some periods and negative in others.

Suggested Citation

  • Bartels, Charlotte, 2019. "Top Incomes in Germany, 1871–2014," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(3), pages 669-707, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:79:y:2019:i:03:p:669-707_00
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alfani, Guido & Gierok, Victoria & Schaff, Felix, 2022. "Economic Inequality in Preindustrial Germany, ca. 1300–1850," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(1), pages 87-125, March.
    2. Bartels, Charlotte & Waldenström, Daniel, 2021. "Inequality and top incomes," GLO Discussion Paper Series 959, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Gregori Galofre-Vila, 2023. "Scarring through the German hyperinflation," Documentos de Trabajo EH-Valencia (DT-EHV) 2302, Economic History group at the Universitat de Valencia.
    4. Nishant Yonzan & Branko Milanovic & Salvatore Morelli & Janet Gornick, 2022. "Drawing a Line: Comparing the Estimation of Top Incomes between Tax Data and Household Survey Data," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(1), pages 67-95, March.
    5. Brian A'Hearn & Stefano Chianese & Giovanni Vecchi, 2020. "Aristocracy and Inequality in Italy, 1861-1931," HHB Working Papers Series 18, The Historical Household Budgets Project.
    6. Ashley Pullman & Britta Gauly & Clemens M. Lechner, 2021. "Short-term earnings mobility in the Canadian and German context: the role of cognitive skills," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 55(1), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Bartels, Charlotte & Jäger, Simon & Obergruber, Natalie, 2020. "Long-Term Effects of Equal Sharing: Evidence from Inheritance Rules for Land," IZA Discussion Papers 13665, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Kersting, Felix & Wohnsiedler, Iris & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2020. "Weber Revisited: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Nationalism," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(3), pages 710-745, September.
    9. Bartels, Charlotte & Kersting, Felix & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2021. "Testing Marx. Income Inequality, Concentration, and Socialism in Late 19th Century Germany," SocArXiv 5y9wf, Center for Open Science.
    10. Franciscos Koutentakis & Kostas Chrissis, 2022. "Top Income Shares in Greece From Dictatorship to Crisis: 1967–2017," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(3), pages 653-666, September.
    11. Mares, Isabela & Queralt, Didac, 2020. "Fiscal innovation in nondemocratic regimes: Elites and the adoption of the prussian income taxes of the 1890s⁎," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Charlotte Bartels & Carsten Schroeder, 2020. "The role of rental income, real estate and rents for inequality in Germany," Working Papers 7, Forum New Economy.
    14. 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.
    15. Naudé, Wim & Nagler, Paula, 2022. "The Ossified Economy: The Case of Germany, 1870-2020," IZA Discussion Papers 15607, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Charlotte Bartels & Carsten Schroeder, 2020. "Income, consumption and wealth inequality in Germany: Three concepts, three stories?," Basic Papers 2, Forum New Economy.
    17. Pawel Bukowski & Filip Novokmet, 2019. "Between Communism and Capitalism: Long-Term Inequality in Poland, 1892- 2015," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02876995, HAL.
    18. Thilo N. H. Albers & Charlotte Bartels & Moritz Schularick, 2020. "The Distribution of Wealth in Germany, 1895-2018," ECONtribute Policy Brief Series 001, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    19. Bukowski, Pawel & Novokmet, Filip, 2019. "Between communism and capitalism: long-term inequality in Poland, 1892-2015," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102834, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Giacomo Gabbuti, 2022. "Those Who Were Better Off: Capital and Top Incomes in Fascist Italy," LEM Papers Series 2022/31, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    21. Gregori Galofre-Vila, 2021. "The Costs of Hyperinflation: Germany 1923," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra 2101, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.
    22. Lea Immel, 2021. "The Impact of Labor Market Reforms on Income Inequality: Evidence from the German Hartz Reforms," ifo Working Paper Series 347, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    23. Pawel Bukowski & Filip Novokmet, 2019. "Between Communism and Capitalism: Long-Term Inequality in Poland, 1892- 2015," Working Papers hal-02876995, HAL.
    24. Galofré-Vilà, Gregori, 2023. "Spoils of War: The Political Legacy of the German hyperinflation," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    25. Judith Niehues & Maximilian Stockhausen & Andreas Peichl & Charlotte Bartels & Mario Bossler & Bernd Fitzenberger & Arnim Seidlitz & Moritz Kuhn & Till Baldenius & Sebastian Kohl & Moritz Schularick &, 2020. "Ungleichheit unter der Lupe – neue politische Antworten auf ein bekanntes Thema," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(02), pages 03-26, February.

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