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Wealth Inequality in the United States in 1798 and 1860

Lee Soltow

The Review of Economics and Statistics 1984

Ahstrrct-The distribution of wealth in real estate am?ong people in the United States at the end of the eighteenth centuLry has hcen estimated frornt a samplc of rolls of the censuLs of real estatc in 1798. Mean real wcalth was $1,433 and the (lini coeficieint of incqualitv was 0588 with half the aduLlt male population owning property. A comparison with the distribultion for rcal estate in 1860 shows that wealth grew 1.9% a year pcr person. Relative inequality was a little larger than in 1798 buLt the diflcrcnce can be explained by crrors in mncasurcmcnt.

DOI
10.2307/1925000
Volume
66 (3)
Pages
444
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