{"title":"Measuring Historical Inequality in Germany","authors":"Thilo Albers, Charlotte Bartels, Felix Schaff","doi":"10.1515/ger-2024-0060","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article surveys the measurement of historical wealth and income inequality in Germany. We discuss the underlying data sources, the challenges they pose, and the opportunities they create. We also identify two promising avenues for future research. First, we argue that the geographic granularity of German historical statistics provides researchers with the opportunity to investigate the causes of inequality. Second, several dimensions of historical inequality remain under-explored, for example, the equalizing role of welfare state institutions such as public pensions.","PeriodicalId":46476,"journal":{"name":"German Economic Review","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"German Economic Review","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2024-0060","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article surveys the measurement of historical wealth and income inequality in Germany. We discuss the underlying data sources, the challenges they pose, and the opportunities they create. We also identify two promising avenues for future research. First, we argue that the geographic granularity of German historical statistics provides researchers with the opportunity to investigate the causes of inequality. Second, several dimensions of historical inequality remain under-explored, for example, the equalizing role of welfare state institutions such as public pensions.
期刊介绍:
German Economic Review, the official publication of the German Economic Association (Verein für Socialpolitik), is an international journal publishing original and rigorous research of general interest in a broad range of economic disciplines, including: - macro- and microeconomics - economic policy - international economics - public economics - finance - business administration The scope of research approaches includes theoretical, empirical and experimental work. Innovative and thought-provoking contributions, in particular from younger authors, are especially welcome.