Abstract
Historical studies of the real wage allow us to track the divergence in the world of economics since the Middle Ages and changes in the distribution of income during the Industrial Revolution. Before the 19th century, the real wage moved inversely to the population. Since then it has increased dramatically.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Allen, R.C. 1994. Real incomes in the English-speaking world, 1879–1913. In Labour market evolution: The economic history of market integration, wage flexibility and the employment relation, ed. G. Grantham and M. MacKinnon. London: Routledge.
Allen, R.C. 2001. The great divergence in European wages and prices from the middle ages to the First World War. Explorations in Economic History 38: 411–447.
Allen, R.C. 2003a. Farm to factory: A reassessment of the Soviet Industrial Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Allen, R.C. 2003b. Poverty and progress in early modern Europe. Economic History Review 56: 403–443.
Allen, R.C. 2007a. Pessimism preserved: Real wages in the British industrial revolution. Working Paper No. 314. Department of Economics, Oxford University.
Allen, R.C. 2007b. India in the great divergence. In The new comparative economic history: Essays in Honor of Jeffery G. Williamson, ed. T.J. Hatton, K.H. O’Rourke, and A.M. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Allen, R.C., J.-P. Bassino, D. Ma, C. Moll-Murata, and J.-L. van Zanden. 2007. Wages, prices, and living standards in China, Japan, and Europe, 1738–1925. Working Paper No. 316. Department of Economics, Oxford University.
Beveridge, L. 1965. Prices and wages in England from the twelfth to the nineteenth century. London: Frank Cass.
Bortz, J., and M. Aguila. 2006. Earning a living: A history of real wage studies in twentieth-century Mexico. Latin America History Review 41: 112–138.
Boskin, M.J., E. Dulberger, R. Gordon, Z. Griliches, and D. Jorgenson. 1996. Toward a more accurate measure of the cost of living. Final report to the Senate Finance Committee from the Advisory Commission to Study the Consumer Price Index. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
Clark, G. 2005. The condition of the working class in England, 1209–2004. Journal of Political Economy 113: 1307–1340.
Diewert, W.E. 1976. Exact and superlative index numbers. Journal of Econometrics 4: 115–145.
Douglas, P.H. 1930. Real wages in the United States: 1890–1926. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Feinstein, C.H. 1998. Pessimism perpetuated: Real wages and the standard of living in Britain during and after the Industrial Revolution. Journal of Economic History 58: 625–658.
ILO (International Labour Organization). Various years. Yearbook of labour statistics. Geneva: ILO.
Kuznets, S. 1955. Economic growth and income inequality. American Economic Review 45: 1–28.
Lewis, W.A. 1954. Economic development with unlimited supplies of labour. Manchester School of Economics and Social Studies 22: 139–191.
Lindert, P.H., and J.G. Williamson. 1983. English workers’ living standard during the Industrial Revolution: A new look. Economic History Review 36: 1–25.
Margo, R.A. 2000. Wages and labor markets in the United States 1820–1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mitchell, B.R. 1998. International historical statistics: Europe, 1750–1993. London: Macmillan Reference.
O’Rourke, K.H., and J.G. Williamson. 1999. Globalization and history. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
O’Rourke, K.H., and J.G. Williamson. 2005. From Malthus to Ohlin: Trade, industrialisation and distribution since 1500. Journal of Economic Growth 10: 5–34.
Özmucur, S., and S. Pamuk. 2002. Real wages and standards of living in the Ottoman Empire, 1489–1914. Journal of Economic History 62: 293–321.
Parthasarathi, P. 1998. Rethinking wages and competitiveness in the eighteenth century: Britain and south India. Past & Present 158: 79–109.
Phelps Brown, E.H., and S.V. Hopkins. 1955. Seven centuries of building wages. Economica NS 22: 195–206.
Phelps Brown, E.H., and S.V. Hopkins. 1956. Seven centuries of the prices of consumables, compared with builders’ wage rates. Economica NS 23: 296–314.
Pomeranz, K. 2000. The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the making of the modern world. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Rees, A. 1961. Real wages in manufacturing, 1890–1914. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Rogers, J.E.T. 1866–92. A history of agriculture and prices in England. Vols. 7. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Scholliers, P., and V. Zamagni. 1995. Labour’s reward: Real wages and economic change in 19th- and 20th-century Europe. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
Smith, A. 1776. An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, ed. E. Cannan. New York: The Modern Library, 1937.
Solow, R.M. 1956. A contribution to the theory of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics 70: 65–94.
van Zanden, J.L. 1999. Wages and the standard of living in Europe, 1500–1800. European Review of Economic History 3: 175–197.
Williamson, J.G. 1995. The evolution of global labor markets since 1830: Background evidence and hypotheses. Explorations in Economic History 32: 141–196.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Allen, R.C. (2018). Real Wage Rates (Historical Trends). In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2168
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2168
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences