The Evolution of Income and Inequality among Mexico City’s Construction Workers during the “Independence Era”: 1783-1853

Israel G. Solares, Aurora Gómez-Galvarriato and Amilcar E. Challú
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Israel G. Solares: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Aurora Gómez-Galvarriato: El Colegio de México
Amilcar E. Challú: Bowling Green State University

Investigaciones de Historia Económica - Economic History Research (IHE-EHR), Journal of the Spanish Economic History Association, 2023, vol. 19, issue 02, 37-48

Abstract: This paper explores inequality levels within the construction sector in Mexico City between the 1780s and the 1850s examining new microdata of daily wages that discriminate skill levels and individual variations. We study the evolution of skill premiums (foremen, masons, and laborers), and build a Theil inequality index of the entire distribution. We find a clear discontinuity in the trends taking place around 1814, when the wage level of unskilled laborers increased, and inequality decreased. An opposite change took place circa 1840 when inequality bounced back and approached its late colonial levels. We hypothesize that institutional change, namely the abolition of guilds (1814), shifts in the relative power of elites and manual laborers, and the cycle of urban growth in Mexico City are behind these trends. KEY Classification-JEL: N36; N96; D6; J24

Keywords: Labor; Inequality; Mexico; Independence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ahe:invest:v:19:y:2023:i:02:p:37-48

DOI: 10.33231/j.ihe.2023.05.008

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