What price a roof? Housing and the cost of living in 16th-century Toledo

Mauricio Drelichman and David Gonzalez Agudo

Economics working papers from Vancouver School of Economics

Abstract: Data on housing costs and rental markets for the early modern period are notoriously scarce. We build a database of rent paid on 183 properties belonging to the Cathedral Chapter of Toledo between 1489 and 1600. Using detailed information on location, physical characteristics of the property, and the identity of the renter, we reconstruct housing costs for various social groups and trace the effect of exogenous shocks on the rental market. We then use our data to explore the impact of adding rent to early modern price indices and estimates of living standards. Price indices show a moderate effect. When comparing the living standards of Toledo to two northern European locations, the addition of rent reduces the gap between them by up to 9.5%.

Keywords: housing; rent indices; living standards; early modern period; Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N34 N94 R21 R31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2012-04-09, Revised 2012-05-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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http://mauricio.econ.ubc.ca/pdfs/toledo.pdf

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Working Paper: What price a roof? Housing and the cost of living in 16th-century Toledo (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ubc:bricol:mauricio_drelichman-2012-15

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