"Income Distribution and Economic Development in Prewar Japan: Estimation and Analysis of the Prefecture-level Top Income Share" (in Japanese)

This paper provides a new estimation of the income distribution in prewar Japan. Using the income tax statistics and the Pareto interpolation, the top 0.1% income share is estimated at the prefecture-level, for 1890, 1925 and 1935. Based on the estimated data, we examine the relationship between economic development and income inequality, as well as the implication of income inequality on the public security. Positive correlation is found between per capita income and income inequality for 1925 and 1935. Also, it was found that income inequality was associated with poor public security.