Several modern economies have to grapple with growing wealth gaps, and the roots of these disparities can often be traced deep into history. A new study by Guido Alfani (of Bocconi’s Department of Social and Political Sciences and director of the Dondena research center at Bocconi) and Sergio Sardone (Federico II University of Naples) sheds light on economic inequality in preindustrial southern Italy, particularly in Apulia, a key region of the then Kingdom of Naples. Their findings reveal a persistent rise in wealth inequality from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, a period marked by economic stagnation.

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