The Evolution and Determinants of Wealth Inequality in the North Atlantic Anglo-Sphere, 1668–2013

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. An Unequal World: Introduction to Wealth Inequality in the North Atlantic Anglosphere

   • Livio Di Matteo

   Pages 1-9

3. Wealth Inequality and Its Historical Context

   • Livio Di Matteo

   Pages 11-24

4. Wealth Inequality: Facts, Figures and Approaches to Its Study

   • Livio Di Matteo

   Pages 25-40

5. Understanding the Determinants of Wealth Inequality

   • Livio Di Matteo

   Pages 41-65

6. Examining the Evidence: Wealth Inequality in the North Atlantic Anglosphere

   • Livio Di Matteo

   Pages 67-98

7. Summary and Concluding Thoughts: The Persistence of Wealth Inequality

   • Livio Di Matteo

   Pages 99-105

8. Back Matter

   Pages 107-148

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This book focuses on wealth inequality trends in the North Atlantic Anglo-sphere countries of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States over the period from 1668 to 2013: a wider perspective than generally used when wealth inequality is discussed. This book demonstrates that it is important to put current dimensions of wealth inequality into historical context by looking at performance over the long run rather than simply a few decades. Moreover, this contribution compiles a substantial amount of data on estimates of wealth inequality and provides a concise overview of trends as well as the drivers of inequality over the long term. It serves as a short supplementary text for economics and sociology courses on economic inequality, economic history and social change—while remaining of interest to scholars and policymakers invested in equality debates of the past and present. 

• North Atlantic
• Anglosphere
• inequality
• economic history
• canada
• wealth distribution
• economic policy
• united kingdom
• usa
• colonialism

• Department of Economics, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

  Livio Di Matteo

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University, Ontario, Canada, where he has served since 1990. His historical wealth research using census-linked probate records was funded by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His health economics research explores the determinants of health expenditures, the public-private split in health spending, and the sustainability of provincial government health spending. He is a member of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) National Health Expenditure Advisory Panel and the Evidence Network; a contributor to the economics blog Worthwhile Canadian Initiative; a Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute; and he is on the advisory boards of the Northern Policy Institute and the Canadian Health Policy Institute.

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