Working Paper: NBER ID: w18383
Authors: Steven Nafziger; Peter H. Lindert
Abstract: Just how unequal were the incomes of different classes of Russians on the eve of Revolution, relative to other countries, to Russia's earlier history, and to Russia's income distribution today? Careful weighing of an eclectic data set provides provisional answers. We provide detailed income estimates for economic and social classes in each of the 50 provinces of European Russia. In 1904, on the eve of military defeat and the 1905 Revolution, Russian income inequality was middling by the standards of that era, and less severe than inequality has become today in such countries as China, the United States, and Russia itself. We also note how the interplay of some distinctive fiscal and relative-price features of Imperial Russia might have shaped the now-revealed level of inequality.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: N30; N33; O15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Income Inequality (D31) | Socio-Economic Conditions (P36) |
| Income Inequality (D31) | Social Unrest (D74) |
| Economic Conditions (E66) | Social Unrest (D74) |
| Urban Centers (R23) | Income Inequality (D31) |
| Communal Land Holdings (P32) | Income Inequality (D31) |