Income inequality
2011-10-20 16:56:53.821689+02 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
One of the things that eventually drove me away from Libertarian economics was the realization that at some point it becomes more expensive to spend the money on law enforcement than it does to spend it on other mechanisms of social change, and that there are chaotic tipping points and definite "tragedy of the commons" phenomena within those calculations. In order to help you predict when the successor to the guillotine will make its appearance, I've gone to The income inequality of France in historical perspective, and transcribed Table 3. Income distribution by social group in 1788 for your perusal:
Group Population (thousands) Income per household (livres) Total income (millions of livres) 'high' 'low' (1) Nobles and clergy 540 1,995 1,715 (2) Bourgeois 2,160 (3) Shopkeepers and artisans 3,240 600 486 486 (4) Workers (non-agriculture) 1,500 200 100 115 (5) Servants (non-agriculture) 1,080 100 100 115 (6a) Small scale farmers 5,250 250 330 390 (6b) Large scale farmers 2,250 880 494 584 (7) Agriculture: day labourers and servants 10,150 160 400 460 (8) Mixed workers (agriculture and industry) 1,800 300 135 135 Total 28,000 4,000 4,000