This paper contributes to a growing literature on long-term trends and drivers of pre-industrial inequality by providing new stylized facts on the evolution of income inequality in Ghana from 1891 to 1960. Using newly constructed social tables, we estimate the Gini coefficient for seven consecutive decades at a time in which the adoption and expansion of cocoa cultivation transformed the Ghanaian economy. Income inequality was already high in 1891, prior to the spread of cocoa cultivation, and it remained stable for four decades. Following a small decline in the early 1930s, inequality increased, reaching its highest level at the end of the colonial era. The expansion of cocoa cultivation and increasing cocoa incomes contributed to persistent high inequality levels until the 1930s. By contrast, the increase in inequality from 1930 to 1960 was largely due to the rising incomes of government employees, skilled workers, and commercial workers.

本文通过提供关于 1891 年至 1960 年加纳收入不平等演变的新的程式化事实，为越来越多的关于前工业不平等的长期趋势和驱动因素的文献做出了贡献。我们使用新构建的社会表，估计了七个的基尼系数可可种植的采用和扩大改变了加纳经济的连续几十年。在可可种植普及之前的 1891 年，收入不平等已经很严重，并且在 40 年间一直保持稳定。在 1930 年代初期小幅下降之后，不平等加剧，在殖民时代结束时达到最高水平。可可种植的扩大和可可收入的增加导致直到 1930 年代持续的高度不平等水平。相比之下，