Inequality, Capital and Many Other Things in the 21st Century (and Before)

Abstract

A Review of Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality since 1700 by Peter H. Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson (2016: Princeton University Press).Editor’s Note: It is Essays’ tradition to publish the keynote address from the prior year’s Economic and Business History Society (EBHS) annual conference as the lead article in each year’s volume. Jeffrey Williamson delivered the keynote at the May 2015 conference, “Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality since 1774.” As the talk was largely a summary of Dr. Williamson’s (then forthcoming) book with Peter Lindert, and the talk can be viewed in its entirety on our website, we felt an appropriate treatment of this keynote talk would be a detailed review of the book. The result is the following review by Vincent Geloso of the London School of Economics. Vincent won the Lynne Doti Award at last year’s EBHS conference for the best paper presented by a graduate student.