Mexican Wealth Distribution 1810-1910
SND-ID: 2023-242. Version: 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.57804/q8sr-qz06
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Creator/Principal investigator(s)
Diego Castañeda Garza - Uppsala University, Department of Economic History
Research principal
Uppsala University
- Department of Economic History
Description
The zip files contain several files with wills from Mexico between 1810 and 1910 collected in order to measure Mexican wealth distribution in its first century of independence. The main file is wills_clean.xlsx, which contains the full collection of wills; in that file, you will find variables for year, state, and wealth, not excluding debts, debts and wealth (net wealth). You can combine this file with the do file cleaningroutine_for_social_tables to produce the detailed social tables.
The rest of the files consist of data files with the social tables (for comparison) and xlsx files with the wills from the main file divided by decade to facilitate calculations using the do file inequality_analysis_ routine_clean.do from which you will be able to reproduce the rest of the analysis (unbalanced sample and generalized beta, lognormal, etc.)
Note: The calculation programs are .do files; thus, they require stata to be executed. Some of the detailed social tables are dta files, and thus also stata files. You can open them in R and work with them or convert them to any other data format.
The wil
The rest of the files consist of data files with the social tables (for comparison) and xlsx files with the wills from the main file divided by decade to facilitate calculations using the do file inequality_analysis_ routine_clean.do from which you will be able to reproduce the rest of the analysis (unbalanced sample and generalized beta, lognormal, etc.)
Note: The calculation programs are .do files; thus, they require stata to be executed. Some of the detailed social tables are dta files, and thus also stata files. You can open them in R and work with them or convert them to any other data format.
The wills come from 5 different Mexican archives: Archivo Histórico de Notarias de la Ciudad de México, Archivo General del Estado de Yucatán, Archivo Municipal de Saltillo, Archivo Histórico de la Ciudad de Morelia and, Testamentos del Colegio de Sonora. Show less..
Data contains personal data
No
Unit of analysis
Population
Individuals who left wills.
Time Method
Sampling procedure
Time period(s) investigated
1810 – 1910
Number of individuals/objects
4960
Weighting
Yes it contains weights for the social tables. It is in the do file. cleaningroutine_for_social_tables.do the variable is the social structure as used in the Padrones de trabajadores.
The Padrones de Trabajadores are occupational censuses conducted at the city level during colonial times and during the first half of the 19th century. They contain the share of the population that works in the different registered occupations. With these shares, it is possible to approximate the social structure of the period. I use these shares as weights for the testators' occupations in the reconstruction of the distribution of wealth.
Data format / data structure
Geographic spread
Geographic location: Mexico
Geographic description: Wills from 27 different Mexican states obtained from Mexican archives (Archivo de Notarias de la Ciudad de México, Archivo General del Estado de Yucatán, Testamentos del Colegio de Sonora, Archivo Municipal de Saltillo, Archivo Histórico Municipal de Michoacán.)
Lowest geographic unit
Province
Highest geographic unit
Province
Responsible department/unit
Department of Economic History
Research area
Economic history (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)
Economics (CESSDA Topic Classification)
Income, property and investment/saving (CESSDA Topic Classification)
Economic conditions and indicators (CESSDA Topic Classification)
Keywords
