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perfandersson.bsky.social

@perfandersson.bsky.social

perfandersson.bsky.social @perfandersson.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

This isn't a wholesale rejection of the framework — agricultural elites do remain largely untaxed, consistent with BDR. But the income-tax part of the story looks different with the new data.

Line chart comparing average direct tax share of total central tax revenue across 31 countries from 1800 to 2012, using two data sources: BDR (Beramendi, Dincecco & Rogers 2019) and Govrev. Govrev covers the full period and shows a gradual rise. BDR starts around 1870, runs lower than Govrev for most of the 20th century, then jumps sharply upward in 1965 when their source switches from Mitchell to OECD general-government data.

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perfandersson.bsky.social @perfandersson.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

31 countries. 1800–2012. Tax revenue, broken down by type: income, property, customs, excises, consumption. New paper out in @ejprjournal.bsky.social introducing the Govrev dataset. 🧵

Line chart showing tax revenue as a share of GDP and income tax share for Europe and Latin America from 1850 to roughly 2010. All four series start near zero. European tax/GDP rises steeply after 1940 to around 45%, while Latin American tax/GDP grows more slowly to around 15%. Income tax shares follow similar regional patterns. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, and the United States excluded.

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perfandersson.bsky.social @perfandersson.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

In a pre-registered study w/ @mtestori.bsky.social & @sergioloiacono.bsky.social, we employed a 2×2 between-subjects design. Groups of 4 played a one-shot Public Goods Game + punishment stage. We varied (a) endowment inequality and (b) whether redistribution was applied before punishment.

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