Doomsday to Today: 1,000 Years of Spatial Inequality

Abstract

To what extent were modern within-state spatial inequalities established in the distant past? Using uniquely detailed data from the Doomsday Book, I show that areas of England that were 10% richer in 1086 remain on average between 1% and 2% richer today almost 1,000 years later. Evidence from a historical natural experiment and a dynamic quantitative spatial economics model suggest that this persistence is not due to path dependency but rather local fundamentals, and in particular local market access.

Keywords: Inequality, Long run, spatial