Jordi Morelló Baget, Pere Orti Gost, Albert Reixach Sala, Pere Verdés Pijuan A study of economic inequality in the light of fiscal sources: the case of Catalonia (14 th -18 th centuries) * INTRODUCTION The general objective of this paper is to present the initial results of a research project that began just over a year ago and whose aim was to study the evolution of inequality in Catalonia during medieval and early modern times based on different types of documentary sources and economic parameters. The project continues a long tradition of studies on taxation and feudal income in this area of the Iberian Peninsula, many of which have had taxation on wealth as their central theme. Indeed, thanks to research carried out over the past 30 years, the origin, functioning and evolution of this essentially municipal type of taxation has been reconstructed and the foundations laid for producing an exhaustive archive of documentation related to the collection of the aforementioned tax. 1 In order to be able to contribute to a better knowledge of the issue of inequality on the basis of abovementioned, we believe that we should begin with an analysis of the scope and limits of the extraordinary sources conserved in Catalonia between the 14 th and 18 th centuries. Specifically, we are interested in discussing three fundamental circumstances: first, the diverse origin and varied typology of sources available in the Catalan archives for the study of the subject; secondly, the magnitude of the preserved archives and the consequent possibility of producing a broad and coherent sample; and, thirdly, the precautions that must be taken when * Pere Orti and Albert Reixach (Universitat de Girona), Pere Verdés (CSIC-IMF) and Jordi Morelló (CSIC-IHF). This paper falls within the scope of two coordinated research projectes funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades: “La desigualdad económica en el mundo rural y las pequeñas ciudades de la Cataluña Vieja bajomedieval a través de las fuentes notariales” (PGC-2018- 100979-B-C21) and “La desigualdad económica en las ciudades catalanas y mallorquinas durante la baja Edad Media a través de las fuentes del impuesto sobre la riqueza” (PGC-2018-100979-B-C22). It has been also prepared within the framework of the research group funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya and Associated Unit UdG-CSIC “Renda i fiscalitat a la Catalunya baixmedieval” (2017 SGR 1068). 1 For a general introduction to taxation on the medieval Crown of Aragon, see: M. SÁNCHEZ MARTÍNEZ, A. FURIÓ, J. Á. SESMA, Old and New Forms of Taxation in the Crown of Aragon (13 th -14 th centuries), in La fiscalità nell'economia europea (sec. XIII-XVIII). Atti della XXXIX Settimana di Studi dell’Istituto Internazional di Storia Economica “Francesco Datini” di Prato (22-26 aprile 2007), ed. S. CAVACIOCCHI, Florence 2008 (Firenze University Press), pp. 99-130. Jordi Morelló Baget, Pere Orti Gost, Albert Reixach Sala, Pere Verdés Pijuan, A study of economic inequality in the light of fscal sources: the case of Catalonia (14th-18th centuries), pp. 145-167, © 2020 Author(s), CC BY 4.0 International, DOI 10.36253/978-88-5518-053-5.13