Salary inequality in Chile through a new indicator, 1845-2020

Abstract

We provide a new indicator of salary inequality for Chile: the ratio of the salary of the Finance Minister compared to that of the lowest paid worker in the Ministry of Finance (1845-2020). The ratio indicates the ideas that the political elite has about its own “worth”, and that of those at the bottom, thus providing a new story about political views on inequality. We found that between 1845 and 1900 this ratio was very high (25-42), declining sharply during the 1900s-1910s, but climbed up to 14-16 between 1910 and 1930. Thereafter there was a new decreasing trend, with the lowest value reached in 1960 (6). Between 1970 and 2000 it moved within the range 9-10, to increase to 13-18 during the last two decades. According to this ratio, the most egalitarian period would be the 1940s-1960s, when a welfare state emerged.