Income inequality greater than in 1774

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 20:18:00 +0000

In the past year a steady stream of articles has trumpeted the gravity of current U.S. income inequality levels. We've not seen these levels of wealth inequality since before the Great Depression, analysts remark. The Roman Empire, one study argued, was more equitable than the United States is now. And on Wednesday, the Atlantic picked up on another alarming comparison: "Income inequality is worse now than during slavery."

Jordan Weissman writes:

The conclusion comes to us from an newly updated study by professors Peter Lindert of the University of California - Davis and Jeffrey Williamson of Harvard. Scraping together data from an array of historical resources, the duo have written a fascinating exploration of early American incomes, arguing that, on the eve of the Revolutionary War, wealth was distributed more evenly across the 13 colonies than anywhere else in the world that we have record of.

Salon.com > 1774

Income inequality greater than in 1774