Always egalitarian? Australian earnings inequality 1870–1910

Abstract

We document the origins of Australia's egalitarianism by quantifying both thelevelandtrendsof earnings inequality during 1870–1910 by constructing social tables for earnings, thus overcoming the constraints imposed by the lack of income, tax and wealth data. We find that earnings inequality was much lower in Australia than in the United States and the United Kingdom in 1870 and that there was no rise in Australian earnings inequality over the half century 1870–1910, but rather a fall. We argue that such findings are driven by a faster skill supply growth relative to demand.

State formation and statistics

“…Furthermore, all people of 'European' racial origin were categorised together whether born in Australia or not (Arcioni, 2012). In addition to problems with racial classifications, income and wealth were not measured in the census until 1933, while state statistics on incomes were also incomplete, such that statisticians and economists must estimate the income distribution during this period (Panza & Williamson, 2021). Australian government statistics of the early twentieth century thus served to promote an Australian identity that excluded non-whites and occluded inconvenient realities of income and wealth inequality.…”