The Condition of the Working-Class in England, 1209-2004

Gregory Clark

No 279, Working Papers from University of California, Davis, Department of Economics

Abstract: The paper uses building workers? wages 1209-2004, and the skill premium, toconsider the causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution. Real wageswere trendless before 1800, as would be predicted for the Malthusian era.Comparing wages with population, however, suggests 1640 actually was thebreak from the technological stagnation of the Malthusian era, long before theclassic Industrial Revolution and even the arrival of modern democracy in 1689.Building wages also conflict with human capital interpretations of the IndustrialRevolution, as modeled by Becker et al. (1990), Galor and Weil (2000) and Lucas(2002). Human capital accumulation began when the rewards for skills wereunchanged, and when fertility was increasing.

Keywords: human capital; industrial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 N10 N50 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56
Date: 2005-08-31
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (146)

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