This chapter outlines the methodological approach for reconstructing the top of the wealth distribution of early-imperial Italy. Traditional social-table models are deemed inadequate for this purpose. Instead, I advocate for an economic model that assumes the top of the Italian wealth distribution can be represented by a simple mathematical function– a power law.

This chapter assesses wealth inequality among the elites of the Italian civitates, using four sets of wealth proxy data. The analysis reveals significant variation in the implied inequalities, which nonetheless fall within the same range as those implied by other premodern datasets. Interestingly, these levels of inequality do not appear to correlate with the size of the civitas.

The Introduction sets out the theme of the book. It discusses the census qualifications (wealth minimum requirements) that prevailed in the Roman timocratic political system.

This chapter introduces a new model to represent the heterogeneity of the Italian civitates. The model is based on the abundant archaeological evidence of the inhabited areas of their administrative centres, using it as a proxy for various economic and socio-political aspects of the civitas. This new variation model surpasses previous ones by being continuous (rather than categorical) and by formally incorporating the uncertainties associated with missing data.

This chapter investigates the relationship between wealth and officeholding in Pompeii. It presents a new reconstruction of the wealth distribution among the Pompeian elite, combining an economic model with archaeological evidence from the local housing stock. The findings suggest that there were significantly more households in Pompeii with curial and senatorial wealth than there were Pompeian decurions and senators.

Chapter 13 examines the evolution of regionally administered totalitarianism (RADT) in post-Mao China. The reforms were implemented to safeguard totalitarianism within the boundaries of its core principles. Economic reforms, particularly those implemented in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, inadvertently strengthened the private sector and civil society under RADT, which ultimately saved the regime. Yet this development also unintentionally created a new liberal type of institutional genes and steered China in the direction of regionally decentralized authoritarianism (RDA). The chapter explores the tug-of-war between the old institutional genes of the RADT/RDA system and the new institutional genes, with the authoritarian system exerting force to suppress the nascent traits, followed by a subsequent shift back to rigid totalitarian control. Finally, the chapter assesses the economic constraints imposed by the totalitarian structure, the changes in the party-state incentives, the precarious position of the private sector, and the overarching influence of communist totalitarianism on China’s economic progress.

Chapter 11 focuses on the creation, expansion, and operating mechanism of the communist totalitarian regimes in China. Its coverage starts from the first of these regimes, the Chinese Soviet Republic, founded in 1931, up to the founding of the nationwide regime, the People’s Republic of China, and the establishment of a full-fledged classical totalitarian system. The key communist totalitarian strategies were state mobilization and domination, including land reform and the suppression of those deemed to be counterrevolutionaries. The chapter explores the regime’s progression from decentralized to centralized totalitarianism, detailing how power became more concentrated over time. The final section explores the “Sovietization” of the state, describing the construction of a classical totalitarian system, following the Soviet model, which was characterized by strict centralized control and ideological uniformity. This transformation laid the groundwork for the pervasive and enduring nature of the Chinese communist state.

Not only did the institutional genes of the Chinese imperial system facilitate the transplantation of totalitarianism from Soviet Russia to China, but they also guided China’s divergence into regionally administered totalitarianism (RADT), which localized and enhanced the adaptability of the Chinese Communist system. Chapter 12 traces the inception and entrenchment of RADT in China. It begins with the Anti-Rightist Movement that established the foundation for a divergence from the Soviet model by instituting a national reign of terror. The transition to RADT began with the Great Leap Forward, when poorly conceived regional competition, characteristic of the RADT regime, precipitated the Great Famine within the nascent People’s Commune system. The Cultural Revolution further entrenched the RADT regime, allowing it to establish its roots firmly within the Chinese political landscape.