Real wages and the family: Adjusting real wages to changing demography in pre-modern England

Eric Schneider

Explorations in Economic History, 2013, vol. 50, issue 1, 99-115

Abstract: This paper uses demographic data drawn from Wrigley et al.'s (1997) family reconstitutions of 26 English parishes to adjust Allen's (2001) real wages to the changing demography of early modern England. Using parity progression ratios (a fertility measure) and age specific mortality for children and parents, model families are predicted in two reference periods 1650–1700 and 1750–1800. These models yield two levels of interesting results. At the individual family level, we can measure how different families' real wages changed over the family life cycle as additional children were born. At the aggregate level, we can predict thousands of families using Monte Carlo simulation, creating a realistic distribution of median family real wages in the economy. There are two main findings. First, pregnancy and lactation do not create cyclical effects in the family's income. Instead, most families' welfare ratios decline steadily across the family life cycle until children begin to leave the household, increasing the welfare ratios. Second, Allen's real wages understate or match the median of the predicted demography-adjusted distributions.

Keywords: Real wages; Family size; Inequality; Income distribution; Demographic history; Great Divergence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C15 D63 I32 J11 J12 J13 N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Working Paper: Real Wages and the Family: Adjusting Real Wages to Changing Demography in Pre-Modern England (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:exehis:v:50:y:2013:i:1:p:99-115

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2012.08.001

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