Wealth distribution in villages. Transition from socialism to capitalism in view of exhaustive wealth data and a master equation approach

TL;DR

This study analyzes wealth distribution changes in a Romanian village transitioning from socialism to capitalism, using exhaustive data and a master equation model to describe socio-economic inequalities over time.

Contribution

It introduces a master equation approach with realistic growth and reset rates to accurately model wealth distribution and inequality measures in a real-world socio-economic transition.

Findings

Model successfully describes wealth distributions and inequality indexes.

Observed socio-economic changes are consistent with model predictions.

Exhaustive data enables detailed analysis of inequality evolution.

Abstract

Socio-economic inequalities derived from an exhaustive wealth distribution is studied in a closed geographical region from Transylvania (Romania). Exhaustive wealth data is computed from the agricultural records of the Sancraiu commune for three different economic situations. The gathered data is spanning two different periods from the communist economy and the present situation after 31 years of free market economy in Romania. The local growth and reset model based on an analytically solvable master equation is used to describe the observed data. The model with realistically chosen growth and reset rates is successful in describing both the experimentally observed distributions and the inequality indexes (Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient and Pareto point) derived from this data. The observed changes in these inequality measures are discussed in the context of the relevant socio-economic conditions.