Chinese Land-Wealth Inequality from the Ming Dinasty to the Eve of the Chinese Revolution
Summary
In this project we investigate the evolution of land inequality in China, from the Ming dynasty to the eve of the Chinese revolution.
Researchers:
The Evolution of Chinese Land-Wealth Inequality: From the Ming Dinasty to the Eve of the Chinese Revolution
In this paper, we examine the trajectory of wealth inequality in Chinese history from 1300 to 1947, leveraging a distinctive and underutilized dataset—the Chinese land sale registries. These registries document the sale price of land transactions between two parties: the seller (owner) and the buyer. Consequently, this information can be treated analogously to a probate inventory, offering a snapshot of wealth at a specific point in time. Given that land ownership constituted the primary source of wealth in pre-industrial societies, it is plausible to infer that the sale price recorded in each contract represents a significant proportion of an individual's wealth. Our findings reveal a marked increas of inequality, as evidenced by Gini coefficients growing from 0.6 in the 14th century to 0.9 in the first half of the 20th century.
Chaos in the Middle Kingdom: Climate Change, Inequality and Warfare in Ming and Qing China
In the second half of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th China was engulfed in several crisis, internal revolts, famines, and invasions. The literature has signaled the relation between this phenomena and the little ice age in the northern hemisphere. Using a novel panel of land prices, wealth inequality estimates, warfare and paleoclimatic data, we study the complex relationship between climate change, warfare and inequality.
