Ronald Finlay,Rolf G. Henriksson,Hkan Lindgren & Mats Lundahl (eds), Eli Heckscher,International Trade and Economic History

Abstract

The great world economic and globalisation boom of the pre-First World War era was accompanied by great inequality in the distribution of income and wealth particularly during industrialisation, with the new world European settler economies being no exception. Canadian wealth inequality over the period 1870–1930 was also substantial and is examined using probated estates from the Eastern Judicial District of the province of Manitoba and Wentworth County, Ontario. However, wealth inequality is found to be less pronounced in frontier Manitoba relative to Ontario with higher and more dispersed rates of land ownership in the West as well as lower wealth levels and greater farm employment, as the key factors in this difference. This suggests that the farm economy of pre-First World War Canada was associated with greater equality of wealth. One of the inevitable effects of Canadian industrialisation and economic development was a rise in wealth inequality but the process of western settlement and associated free grants helped mitigate it. By extension, global economic inequality might also have been mitigated during this period by the presence of agricultural frontiers with subsidised land grants.     

Fenjiashu: Economic development in the Chinese countryside based on household division inventories,ca. 1750–1910

Despite the existence of a rich literature on Chinese partial household division, there is still limited evidence of its effect on land and capital accumulation and well-being. In this study, contrary to the dominant view, we find that household property size peaked around 1800s–1830s, suggesting that equal-share system did not necessarily lead to land fragmentation. We find evidence that this rise in farm sizes is related to the opposing forces of increased well-being and increased inequality.     

遗产税与相关各税的关系研究

总遗产税是遗产税的唯一形式,不应该存在其他的形式,无论将遗产税归类为所得税,还是财产税,都是不妥当的;尽管遗嘱税与印花税、契税有一定的渊源关系,但不是真正的遗产税,现代的遗产税与印花税和契税均不相干;顶级的奢侈品和奢侈行为对巨富没有弹性,对其征收高额的特别消费税与关税,能有效解决巨富大肆挥霍以逃避遗产税的问题;遗产税、资源税和社会保障税共同存在的难以归类的问题说明,国家除以公共产品提供者的身份征收一般税收外,还以第三方、一般的社会管理者的身份征收特别税收,应该改造现有的税种分类理论框架。