IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/seh/wpaper/1101.html

Land-use profiles of agrarian income and land ownership inequality in the province of Barcelona in mid-nineteenth century

Author

Listed:
  • Enric Tello

    (Department of Economic History and Institutions,Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona (Spain))

  • Marc Badia-Miró

    (Department of Economic History and Institutions,Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona (Spain))

Abstract

According to the existing literature, when land remained the most abundant factor an increase in market integration is expected to lead to a greater inequality in wealth or income distribution. However, several case studies on the vineyard specialization experienced in Catalonia during the 18th and 19th centuries suggested another outcome: land ownership and agrarian income became less uneven, not the opposite. The outstanding interpretation posed by Catalan rural historians deserves to be confirmed or rejected by applying different inequality and polarization indices (Gini, Theil and top incomes), and innovative methods (inequality possible frontier and extraction ratios), to the big dataset we have been able to assemble with the information provided for every cadastral taxpayer of each municipality in the Distribution of Personal Wealth in Real Estate Ownership in the Province of Barcelona published in 1852 by the Official Gazette, combined with other population and land-use data listed in a Land-Use Statistics of the Province of Barcelona compiled in 1858. The results confirm that landownership and income inequality were lower in winegrowing municipalities than in cereal-cropping or forest ones, in spite of the fact that commercial specialization and higher population densities could have meant an extended frontier of possible inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Enric Tello & Marc Badia-Miró, 2011. "Land-use profiles of agrarian income and land ownership inequality in the province of Barcelona in mid-nineteenth century," Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria 1101, Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria.
    • Handle: RePEc:seh:wpaper:1101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repositori.uji.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10234/20513/DT%20SEHA%2011-01.pdf?sequence=1
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Milanovic, Branko & Lindert, Peter & Williamson, Jeffrey, 2007. "Measuring Ancient Inequality," MPRA Paper 5388, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Enric Tello & Marc Badia-Miro & Xavier Cusso & Ramon Garrabou & Francesc Valls, 2008. "Explaining vineyard specialization in the province of Barcelona (Spain) in the mid-19th century," Working Papers in Economics 201, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia.
    3. Vries,Jan de, 2008. "The Industrious Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521895026.
    4. Acemoglu,Daron & Robinson,James A., 2009. "Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521671422.
    5. Peter H. Lindert & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2003. "Does Globalization Make the World More Unequal?," NBER Chapters, in: Globalization in Historical Perspective, pages 227-276, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Milanovic, Branko, 2010. "Level of income and income distribution in mid-18th century France, according to Francois Quesnay," MPRA Paper 27692, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Vries,Jan de, 2008. "The Industrious Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521719254.
    8. Michael D. Bordo & Alan M. Taylor & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2003. "Globalization in Historical Perspective," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bord03-1, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Samuel Garrido, 2017. "The fruit of inequality: wine, efficiency, agrarian contracts and property rights in Catalonia (1898-1935)," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 1701, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    2. Marc Badia-Miro & Enric Tello, 2013. "An agency-oriented model to explain vine-growing specialization in the province of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) in the mid-nineteenth century," Working Papers in Economics 290, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia.
    3. Galán, E. & Padró, R. & Marco, I. & Tello, E. & Cunfer, G. & Guzmán, G.I. & González de Molina, M. & Krausmann, F. & Gingrich, S. & Sacristán, V. & Moreno-Delgado, D., 2016. "Widening the analysis of Energy Return on Investment (EROI) in agro-ecosystems: Socio-ecological transitions to industrialized farm systems (the Vallès County, Catalonia, c.1860 and 1999)," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 336(C), pages 13-25.
    4. Lluis Parcerisas & Joan Marull & Joan Pino & Enric Tello & Francesc Coll & Corina Basnou, 2012. "Land use changes, landscape ecology and their socioeconomic driving forces in the Spanish Mediterranean coast (the Maresme County, 1850-2005)," Working Papers in Economics 273, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:seh:wpaper:11101 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Marc Badia-Miro & Enric Tello, 2013. "An agency-oriented model to explain vine-growing specialization in the province of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) in the mid-nineteenth century," Working Papers in Economics 290, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia.
    3. Bas van Leeuwen & Peter Foldvari, 2012. "The development of inequality and poverty in Indonesia, 1932-1999," Working Papers 0026, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
    4. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/b0ghejdpldro9c499h4ajc937 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Hillebrand Evan E, 2010. "Deglobalization Scenarios: Who Wins? Who Loses?," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, May.
    6. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/b0ghejdpldro9c499h4ajc937 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Michael Woolcock & Simon Szreter & Vijayendra Rao, 2011. "How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 70-96.
    8. Rassekh, Farhad, 2010. "Is Stolper-Samuelson dangerous and FPE a failure?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 555-561, October.
    9. Allwood, Julian M. & Ashby, Michael F. & Gutowski, Timothy G. & Worrell, Ernst, 2011. "Material efficiency: A white paper," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 362-381.
    10. Beatrice d'Ippolito, 2014. "The importance of design for firms' competitiveness: a review of the literature," Working Papers hal-00936947, HAL.
    11. Clark, Gregory, 2013. "1381 and the Malthus delusion," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 4-15.
    12. Wallis, Patrick, 2010. "Exotic drugs and English medicine: England’s drug trade, c.1550-c.1800," Economic History Working Papers 28577, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    13. Masayuki Tanimoto, 2010. "Housework and the Consumption History in pre-war Japan," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-779, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    14. Paul Slack, 2009. "Material progress and the challenge of affluence in seventeenth‐century England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(3), pages 576-603, August.
    15. Mauro Rota & Luca Spinesi, 2012. "At the Onset of the Original Capital Accumulation," DEGIT Conference Papers c017_018, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    16. Penelope Francks, 2022. "Industriousness and divergence: Living standards, housework and the Japanese diet in comparative historical perspective," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 26-46, March.
    17. Boško Mijatović & Branko Milanović, 2021. "The real urban wage in an agricultural economy without landless farmers: Serbia, 1862–1910," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(2), pages 424-448, May.
    18. Paul R. Sharp & Jacob L. Weisdorf, 2012. "French revolution or industrial revolution? A note on the contrasting experiences of England and France up to 1800," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 6(1), pages 79-88, January.
    19. David Cassass, 2013. "Adam Smith's Republican Moment: Lessons for Today's Emancipatory Thought," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 2(2), pages 1-1, October.
    20. Daniel Barbezat, 2011. "The Economic History of European Growth," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 51, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Jane Humphries & Jacob Weisdorf, 2019. "Unreal Wages? Real Income and Economic Growth in England, 1260–1850," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(623), pages 2867-2887.
    22. Simon Ville, 2015. "Divergence and Convergence: New and Shifting Paradigms in Comparative Economic History," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 55(1), pages 80-94, March.
    23. Meissner, Christopher M., 2014. "Growth from Globalization? A View from the Very Long Run," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 8, pages 1033-1069, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • N53 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:seh:wpaper:1101. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Antonio Linares (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sehiaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.