Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century

Autores
Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo; Atkinson, Anthony B.
Año de publicación
2022
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
There have been important studies of recent income inequality and of poverty in South Africa, but very little is known about the long-run trends over time. There is speculation about the extent of inequality when the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, but no hard evidence. In this paper, we provide evidence that is partial—being confined to top incomes—but which for the first time shows how the income distribution changed on a (near) annual basis from 1913 onwards. We present estimates of the shares in total income of groups such as the top 1% and the top 0.1%, covering the period from colonial times to the twenty-first century. For a number of years during the apartheid period, we have data classified by race. The estimates for recent years bear out the picture of South Africa as a highly unequal country, but allow this to be placed in historical and international context. The time series presented here will, we hope, provide the basis for detailed investigation of the impact of South African institutions and policies, past and present. But the similarity of the changes over time in top incomes across the four ex-dominions suggests that national developments have to be seen in the light of common global forces.
Fil: Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; Argentina
Fil: Atkinson, Anthony B.. University of Oxford; Reino Unido
Materia
Inequality
Income
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/241624

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spelling Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth centuryGonzalez Alvaredo, FacundoAtkinson, Anthony B.InequalityIncomehttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.2https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6There have been important studies of recent income inequality and of poverty in South Africa, but very little is known about the long-run trends over time. There is speculation about the extent of inequality when the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, but no hard evidence. In this paper, we provide evidence that is partial—being confined to top incomes—but which for the first time shows how the income distribution changed on a (near) annual basis from 1913 onwards. We present estimates of the shares in total income of groups such as the top 1% and the top 0.1%, covering the period from colonial times to the twenty-first century. For a number of years during the apartheid period, we have data classified by race. The estimates for recent years bear out the picture of South Africa as a highly unequal country, but allow this to be placed in historical and international context. The time series presented here will, we hope, provide the basis for detailed investigation of the impact of South African institutions and policies, past and present. But the similarity of the changes over time in top incomes across the four ex-dominions suggests that national developments have to be seen in the light of common global forces.Fil: Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Atkinson, Anthony B.. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoSpringer2022-09info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/241624Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo; Atkinson, Anthony B.; Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century; Springer; Cliometrica; 16; 3; 9-2022; 477-5461863-2513CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11698-021-00235-4info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s11698-021-00235-4info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-03T09:57:19Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/241624instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-03 09:57:19.401CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century
title Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century
spellingShingle Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century
Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo
Inequality
Income
title_short Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century
title_full Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century
title_fullStr Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century
title_full_unstemmed Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century
title_sort Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo
Atkinson, Anthony B.
author Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo
author_facet Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo
Atkinson, Anthony B.
author_role author
author2 Atkinson, Anthony B.
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Inequality
Income
topic Inequality
Income
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.2
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv There have been important studies of recent income inequality and of poverty in South Africa, but very little is known about the long-run trends over time. There is speculation about the extent of inequality when the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, but no hard evidence. In this paper, we provide evidence that is partial—being confined to top incomes—but which for the first time shows how the income distribution changed on a (near) annual basis from 1913 onwards. We present estimates of the shares in total income of groups such as the top 1% and the top 0.1%, covering the period from colonial times to the twenty-first century. For a number of years during the apartheid period, we have data classified by race. The estimates for recent years bear out the picture of South Africa as a highly unequal country, but allow this to be placed in historical and international context. The time series presented here will, we hope, provide the basis for detailed investigation of the impact of South African institutions and policies, past and present. But the similarity of the changes over time in top incomes across the four ex-dominions suggests that national developments have to be seen in the light of common global forces.
Fil: Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; Argentina
Fil: Atkinson, Anthony B.. University of Oxford; Reino Unido
description There have been important studies of recent income inequality and of poverty in South Africa, but very little is known about the long-run trends over time. There is speculation about the extent of inequality when the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, but no hard evidence. In this paper, we provide evidence that is partial—being confined to top incomes—but which for the first time shows how the income distribution changed on a (near) annual basis from 1913 onwards. We present estimates of the shares in total income of groups such as the top 1% and the top 0.1%, covering the period from colonial times to the twenty-first century. For a number of years during the apartheid period, we have data classified by race. The estimates for recent years bear out the picture of South Africa as a highly unequal country, but allow this to be placed in historical and international context. The time series presented here will, we hope, provide the basis for detailed investigation of the impact of South African institutions and policies, past and present. But the similarity of the changes over time in top incomes across the four ex-dominions suggests that national developments have to be seen in the light of common global forces.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022-09
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/241624
Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo; Atkinson, Anthony B.; Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century; Springer; Cliometrica; 16; 3; 9-2022; 477-546
1863-2513
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/241624
identifier_str_mv Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo; Atkinson, Anthony B.; Top incomes in South Africa in the twentieth century; Springer; Cliometrica; 16; 3; 9-2022; 477-546
1863-2513
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11698-021-00235-4
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s11698-021-00235-4
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
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application/pdf
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Springer
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Springer
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