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Labor shares and inequality: insights from Italian economic history, 1895–19701
[‘A paradise for profiteers’? The importance and treatment of profits during the first world war]

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  • Giacomo Gabbuti

Abstract

This article develops theoretical and practical motivations for studying the functional distribution of income in the past. Italy is adopted as a case study, because of the availability of long-run estimates on personal inequality and of the long-lasting incidence of self-employment. New labor shares for 1895–1970 show Italian workers accruing a low share of income until 1945; by the end of the 1950s, they rapidly converged to the European average. Italian history shows that functional income distribution deepens our understanding of long- and short-run distributional trends and makes a compelling case for approaching inequality by combining diverse sources and methodologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Giacomo Gabbuti, 2021. "Labor shares and inequality: insights from Italian economic history, 1895–19701 [‘A paradise for profiteers’? The importance and treatment of profits during the first world war]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 25(2), pages 355-378.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:25:y:2021:i:2:p:355-378.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/heaa010
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    Cited by:

    1. Alfani, Guido, 2023. "Inequality in History: A Long-Run View," SocArXiv 94dgs, Center for Open Science.
    2. Gregori Galofre-Vila & Maria Gomez-Leon & David Stuckler, 2021. "A Lesson from History? The 1918 Inuenza pandemic and the rise of Italian Fascism: A cross-city quantitative and historical text qualitative analysis," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra 2102, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.
    3. Bengtsson, Erik & Molinder, Jakob, 2024. "Incomes and income inequality in Stockholm, 1870–1970: Evidence from micro data," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

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