Resumen de Inequality (Un)perceived: The Emergence of a Discourse on Economic Inequality from the Middle Ages to the Age of Revolution

Guido Alfani, Roberta Frigeni

• Recent research suggests that inequality increased almost continuously from the Middle Ages until the Industrial Revolution. In this article we explore whether this reflects a change in how an unequal distribution of property/income was perceived. Using large databases of manuscripts and printed editions covering ca. 1100-1830, we measure the occurrences over time of keywords bearing on the notions of equality/inequality. We then analyze key texts in depth to discover how and when these keywords acquired an economic meaning. Lastly, we relate changes in meaning to changes in levels of economic inequality. We demonstrate that the notions of equality/inequality acquired economic meanings only over a long span of time. This process intensified in the decades preceding the French Revolution, suggesting that changes in inequality levels helped to brew political upheaval in the Age of Revolution.