A Window to the Past: Living Standards in Historical Perspective

Leticia Arroyo Abad () and Kathryn Gary ()
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Leticia Arroyo Abad: City University of New York & CEPR
Kathryn Gary: Lund University

A chapter in Handbook of Cliometrics, 2024, pp 925-949 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Real wages are a convenient, useful, and powerful way to learn how life was like in the past. In this chapter we start by reviewing the methodology behind real wage estimations and their history. Then we look at the how real wages have contributed to shedding light on major issues in economic history such as the onset of modern economic growth, the Great Divergence, and colonialism in the Americas. We continue to explain the limitations and challenges in estimating and interpreting real wages.

Keywords: Living standards; Real wages; Welfare ratios; Prices; Cost of living; Consumption baskets; Barebones baskets; Respectable baskets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-35583-7_89

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-35583-7_89

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