ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 brings together a substantial amount of new quantitative information linking epidemic outbreaks and wealth or asset indicators, shining new light on mortality-induced redistribution. Evidence from the Low Countries suggests that while conditions were present to potentially change wealth distribution within communities by increasing turnover of assets, redistribution often did not occur in practice. Although we often see small declines in Gini Coefficients in wealth distribution after epidemics—mostly this was minimal and temporary and hardly represented greater egalitarianism in principle. Post-epidemic housing wealth redistribution in Leiden tended to be in sectors of poor housing owned by wealthy investors, which ended up in the hands of similar investors. In rural areas, households often got access to land after spiked mortality that they either did not want or was sometimes depreciating in social or economic value. Overall, epidemic-induced redistribution might have simply entrenched or crystallised existing inequalities. Insights into the direct economic damages that epidemics could create at the micro level potentially affirm that—given that these direct costs disproportionately bore a toll on the poorest within society.
