Working Paper: NBER ID: w27069
Authors: James J. Feigenbaum; Price V. Fishback; Keoka Grayson
Abstract: We explored two measures of inequality that described the full income distribution in cities. One measure is an income gini based on family incomes in 1929 for 33 cities and in 1933 for up to 48 cities in 1933 were spread throughout the country. We also estimated gini coefficients that made use of contract rents for renters and implicit rents for home owners for up to 955 cities throughout the country. We were able to expand to all counties when looking at a top-end inequality measure, the number of taxpayers per family. All three measures varied substantially across the country. We show the correlations between the various measures and also estimate the relationship between the measures and various relief programs developed by governments at all levels during the period.
Keywords: inequality; safety net; Great Depression; income distribution; relief programs
JEL Codes: D31; H53; H7; H75; N31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increased access to federal relief spending (H84) | increase in Gini coefficients (D31) |
| higher per capita relief spending (H84) | higher Gini coefficients (D31) |
| taxpayer per family (H24) | decrease in income Gini (D31) |
| taxpayer per family (H24) | decrease in housing Gini (R21) |
| state per capita income drop (H79) | increase in the change in log Gini coefficient (D31) |