INEQUALITY OF INCOMES AND LIFE-SPANS IN ENGLAND SINCE 1688

This article uses data on income distribution and life expectancy to c onstruct estimates of the distribution of lifetime consumption in Engl and for benchmark dates since 1688. Inequality in lifetime consumption fell rapidly in the century after 1867. The evidence for earlier peri ods does not support Lindert's recent conjecture that inequality of li fetime consumption increased during the industrial revolution.