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Land Inequality in a Coffee Economy: Sao Paulo During the Early Twentieth Century

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  • Renato P. Colistete
  • Maria Lucia Lamounier

Abstract

This article examines the distribution of land ownership in northeastern Sao Paulo, Brazil, the leading coffee export region in the world at the early twentieth century. Based on a detailed agricultural census, we find a widespread presence of small and medium-size farms, with varied degrees of land concentration across subregions and municipalities. Still, large farms and latifundia controlled most of the productive resources in northeast Sao Paulo, resulting in higher land inequality than observed in most of other export regions in the Americas, such as the US South's cotton areas in the antebellum period.

Suggested Citation

  • Renato P. Colistete & Maria Lucia Lamounier, 2024. "Land Inequality in a Coffee Economy: Sao Paulo During the Early Twentieth Century," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2024_35, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    • Handle: RePEc:spa:wpaper:2024wpecon35
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    Cited by:

    1. Bruno Gabriel Witzel de Souza, 2016. "Subsidies to the History of the German-Speaking Immigration to the Province / State of São Paulo, Brazil (1840-1920)," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 233, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Land inequality; Coffee economy; São Paulo;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N5 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries
    • N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment

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