Wealth concentration in a developing economy: Paris and France, 1807-1994

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Piketty, T; Postel-Vinay, G; Rosenthal, JL
• 署名单位: Universite PSL; Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS); Institut Polytechnique de Paris; Ecole des Ponts ParisTech; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); INRAE; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/000282806776157614
• 发表日期: 2006
• 页码: 236-256
• 关键词: income inequality; UNITED-STATES; GROWTH

摘要

Using large samples of estate tax returns, we construct new series on wealth concentration in Paris and France from 1807 to 1994. Inequality increased until 1914 because industrial and financial estates grew dramatically. Then, adverse shocks, rather than a Kuznets-type process, led to a massive decline in inequality. The very high wealth concentration prior to 1914 benefited retired individuals living off capital income (rentiers) rather than entrepreneurs. The very rich were in their seventies and eighties, whereas they had been in their fifties a half century earlier and would be so again after World War H. Our results shed new light on ongoing debates about wealth inequality and growth.