Abstract

This paper explores regional (département or NUTS3) income inequality in France between 1860 and 1954. To this end we first document the existing evidence, evaluate the estimation methods and findings, assess the suitability of each approach and address potential concerns. We then present our own subnational estimates of per-capita income, derived following Geary and Stark. Overall, we find that indirect estimation (or top-down) methods provide somewhat differing results, thereby calling into question the validity of some of these approaches. Our estimates, meanwhile, appear to fit reasonably well with direct estimations (or bottom-up) of value-added and income and provide evidence in support of a decline in regional inequality over the period of study.

摘要

本文探讨了1860年至1954年法国的地区（部门或NUTS3）收入不平等情况。为此，我们首先记录现有证据，评估估计方法和发现，评估每种方法的适用性并解决潜在的问题。然后，我们根据Geary和Stark提出我们自己的人均国民收入估算。总体而言，我们发现间接估计（或自上而下）方法提供的结果有些不同，从而使人们怀疑其中某些方法的有效性。同时，我们的估计似乎与增加值和收入的直接估计（或自下而上）非常吻合，并提供了支持研究期间区域不平等现象减少的证据。