Agrarian Structures, Urbanization and Inequality

This study examines the impact of agrarian structures on income inequality over the long run. High land inequality increases income Gini coefficients in the urban sector as well as the rural sector, not only by creating congestion in the urban subsistence sector, but also by feeding the growth of the urban reserve army of labor, which pulls down the wages in the urban capitalist sector. An econometric analysis shows that the impact of initial land ownership distribution on both national and urban income distribution can persist for decades