Did Income Inequalities Doom the Aztec Empire? (VIDEO)
Caption
Spanish Conquerors did not themselves bring #inequality to the Aztec lands they invaded: they exploited the extractive institutional framework that was already in existence, adapting it to suit their plans and adding further layers of inequality, explains Guido Alfani (Bocconi Department of Social and Political Sciences). In an article he wrote together with Alfonso Carballo of NEOMA Business School in France he assessed what kind of disparities there were in the so-called #AztecEmpire before the Conquest. #aztecs The Empire originated from an alliance of three city-states which over time came to rule over a range of provinces which were required to pay tributes, including in blood. Its agriculture was fairly advanced in terms of yield per unit of surface, but extremely labor-intensive as the wheel was unknown and no beasts of burden were employed. “We roughly estimated per capita #income in the Aztec Empire by exploiting the variation in population density using archaeological data. According to our calculations, per capita income at the eve of the Spanish conquest was on average approximately US$690, which was significantly lower than in 16th century Spain. But this average conceals important differences between provinces,” he says. Inequality in average income levels between the provinces was a major source of inequality and was exacerbated by the uneven treatment that they received within the Empire. The taxes that each province had to pay were variable, depending on how the province had become part of the Aztec Empire. Those provinces that had militarily resisted the Aztecs were subjected to higher imperial tax rates once conquered. Another major source of inequality was the social structure. The main social distinction was between the nobility, the commoners and the slaves. The nobility dominated the commoners by holding exclusive control over productive resources. Overall, before the conquest, the richest 1% earned 41.8% of the total income; this figure grows to 50.8% if the richest 5% is considered. As the income share of the poorest 50% was just 23.3%, this makes for a very skewed income distribution, much worse than in today’s Mexico. High inequality helps explain how a little Spanish army of just a few hundred men could quickly overrun the Aztec Empire. The highly centralized and unequal tax collection was so resented by vast regions of the Empire that their populations rebelled and took arms on the Spaniards’ side. However, their hopes of a better life were dashed as Spanish colonization further exacerbated the highly extractive conditions that had come into being before the conquest and ensured their continuation for centuries thereafter.
Credit
Bocconi University
Usage Restrictions
For journalistic purposes only
License
Original content