This paper shows yearly estimates of income inequality in Italy from 1900 to 1950. By constructing dynamic social tables, we comprehensively assess inequality across all components of Italian society. In a context of declining inequality across Europe, interwar Italy reveals a singular...

In the centennial of the March on Rome, this paper contributes to the political economy of Italian Fascism by addressing in quantitative terms the fortunes of Italian economic elites during the interwar period. Macro-economic indicators indicate capital accumulation and high profits, in a period...

In the light of the recent literature on the intellectual history of inequality, this paper offers the first survey and a tentative classification of the Italian literature addressing issues related to social mobility, from late-19th century to the 'Economic Miracle' of the 1950s. During these...

This paper documents the ongoing construction of the Italian Historical Taxpayers' Database (IHTD), currently consisting of 1,593,563 micro-records of income declarations filed by Italian autonomous workers in 1889, 1922 and 1933. Such a database results from the digitisation of a so far...

In this paper, we aim to address a major gap in the economic history of interwar Italy, by discussing the evolution of women's incomes and employment during this crucial period of Italian and European history. After examining the available statistical evidence, we build on recently reconstructed...

In summer 1923, pursuant to the 'full powers' granted him by the Parliament to balance the budget, Alberto De Stefani - appointed in October 1922 as Mussolini's Treasury Minister - announced the abolition of inheritance tax. The most iconic act of Fascist 'financial restauration' of 1922-25, the...

We argue against the use of composite indices, such as the Human Development Index (HDI), in economic history. We show that the HDI can be interpreted as a formal representation of the analyst's ethical system. We support our claim by introducing a new class of paternalistic social welfare...

Detailed distributional estimates at finer geographical levels remain scarce, despite their critical relevance for household well being and policy intervention. This paper leverages Italian income tax records dating back to 1976 focusing on top income concentration and inequality across the...

The paper uses the flexibility of household survey data to align their income categories and recipient units with the income categories and units found in data produced by tax authorities. Our analyses, based on a standardized definition of fiscal income, allow us to locate, for top-income...