The colonial legacy: Income inequality in former British African colonies

Arbeitspapier

This paper examines the distribution of top incomes in 15 former British colonies in Africa, drawing on evidence available from income tax records. It seeks to throw light on the position of colonial elites during the period of British rule. Just how unequal were incomes? How did the position of the rich in the colonies compare with that of the rich in the United Kingdom? It investigates how income concentration evolved in the last years of colonial rule, as the British government became more concerned with development, and establishes the degree of inequality at the time of independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s. What was the colonial legacy? How far did colonial inequality persist post-independence?

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-92-9230-766-0
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WIDER Working Paper ; No. 2014/045

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; General Welfare; Well-Being ; Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Africa; Oceania ; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
• Subject: inequality ; income distribution ; colonial Africa

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Atkinson, A. B.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
• (where): Helsinki
• (when): 2014

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2014/766-0
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/96303
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET