5 Many studies of wealth distribution in 17th-century Massachusetts yield similar results. Gini ratios (the standard measure of concentration which ranges from .00 (perfect equality) to .99 (perfect inequality where the top percentile owns everything)), fell mostly in a narrow middling range of .4 in small farming communities to .6 in seaport towns. One of the most equal patterns appeared in Andover’s division lists (.38); least equal were tax assessment lists in Boston and its suburb of Muddy River (now Brookline), which were .64.

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Sources: G. B. Warden, “Inequality and Instability in Boston: A Reappraisal,” JIH 6 (1976), 505-620; Greven, Four Generations, 46; Donald W. Koch, “Income Distribution and Political Structure in Seventeenth Century Salem,” EIHC 105 (1969), 50-69; Gary Nash, “Urban Wealth and Poverty,” JIH 61 (1976), 549.