Were Wages That Low? Real Wages in the Strasbourg Region Before 1775

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Geloso
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
Per Se ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Skilled And Unskilled Workers

Robert Allen characterized the region of Strasbourg in France in the period before 1789 as exceptionally poor. New evidence suggests, however, that Allen underestimated wage levels because of a failure to include payments in-kind and to clarify the differences between skilled and unskilled workers. Moreover, his wages came from a region that is wider than Strasbourg per se. The use of wage data for the agricultural sector that were higher in nominal terms than Allen’s, with reference to regions like Paris and southern England, elevates the economic standing of Strasbourg and, by extension, that of France.

scholarly journals THE NORTH–SOUTH DIVIDE: REAL WAGES AND WELFARE IN BRAZIL DURING THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-214
Author(s):  
Thales Augusto Zamberlan Pereira
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Regional Inequality ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
State Information ◽  
The North ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Skilled And Unskilled Workers

ABSTRACTWhat was the degree of Brazil's regional inequality in living standards during the first decades of the 20th century? This paper presents municipal and state information on wages and prices in order to build welfare ratios for skilled and unskilled workers between 1912 and 1940. Despite the significant differences in nominal wages and costs of living throughout the country, real wage differentials remained lower than those estimated by earlier studies. Williamson (1999) argued that real wages in the Southeast were approximately six times higher than in the Northeast during the 1930s. The new evidence in this paper suggests that wages were on average only 1.5 times higher.

War and the Working Class: The Case of Düsseldorf 1914–1918

1985 ◽  
Vol 18 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 257-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth H. Tobin
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
German Revolution ◽  
Insufficient Knowledge ◽  
Skilled And Unskilled Workers

The causes of any revolution are notoriously hard to discover. Despite years of effort, historians still disagree about the relative importance of the short-term and long-term causes of the German revolution in 1918–19. Some describe the “events” at the end of the war as a largely unrevolutionary desire for peace and food, brought about by the privations of the war years; others explain them as the culmination of decades of escalating class conflicts, which the conditions of war sharply exposed. One problem with this whole debate has been an insufficient knowledge of exactly what happened to Germany's workers during the war. Although most historians agree that money wages went up, real wages declined and most people ate less, few have been able to gauge the extent or importance of the change in wages or determine whether workers were simply somewhat hungry, malnourished, or starving. Furthermore there is not enough known about the composition of the work force during the war and the different hardships endured by skilled and unskilled workers.

scholarly journals Importing Skill-Biased Technology

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel Burstein ◽  
Javier Cravino ◽  
Jonathan Vogel
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Skill Premium ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Large Share ◽  
Capital Equipment ◽  
Analytic Expressions ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
Skilled And Unskilled Workers

The production of capital equipment is concentrated among a small group of countries, and many countries import a large share of their equipment. If capital-skill complementarity is an important feature of technology, international trade may have important effects on the skill premium through its impact on equipment accumulation. In this paper we propose a tractable framework for evaluating this effect, provide simple analytic expressions linking observable changes in import shares by sector to changes in real wages of skilled and unskilled workers (and, therefore, the skill premium), and quantify the importance of this effect for a large set of countries. (JEL E22, F11, F16, J24, L64)

scholarly journals Real Urban Wage in an Agricultural Economy Without Landless Farmers: Serbia 1862-1910

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boško Mijatović ◽  
Branko Milanovic
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Agricultural Economy ◽  
Modest Increase ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
Agricultural Societies ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
Skilled And Unskilled Workers

The paper presents the first estimate of the welfare ratio for Serbia using the 19th and early 20th century data on wages of skilled and unskilled workers (including the part paid in kind) and prices of goods that enter into “subsistence” and “respectability” consumption baskets. It finds a stagnation of unskilled wage close to the welfare ratio of 1, and a modest increase in skilled wage. The paper introduces several adjustments to conventional methodology in order to make it more relevant for predominantly agricultural societies. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

scholarly journals Does Plant Size Matter? Differential Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on Wages and Employment in Indian Manufacturing

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shruti Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Differential Effects ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
Size Matter ◽  
Skilled And Unskilled Workers

This paper examines the differential effects, based on the size of the plant, of industry-level foreign direct investment (FDI) on plant-level employment and the wages of skilled and unskilled workers in India's manufacturing sector. On average, there are strong positive differential effects of increased inward-level FDI for large plants relative to small and average-sized plants in terms of employment and the average wages of both skilled and unskilled workers. Small plants experience negative effects from inward FDI, which can be explained by intra-industry reallocation of output from smaller to larger plants. After conducting a regional analysis, I find positive spillovers to small plants in Indian states that receive large and persistent flows of FDI. This suggests that a critical mass of FDI is necessary for small plants to experience positive spillover effects.

Import Competition and Post-displacement Wages in Korea: Whom You Trade with Matters

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngho Kang ◽  
Hyejoon Im
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Displaced Workers ◽  
Import Competition ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Advanced Country ◽  
Longitudinal Survey Data ◽  
Trading Partners ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
Skilled And Unskilled Workers

Abstract: Using longitudinal survey data from Korean workers, we examine whether the effects of import competition on post-displacement wages are heterogeneous between skilled and unskilled workers for trading partners with different endowments of (un)skilled labor. Reemployment wages of displaced workers show a decrease for skilled workers but an increase for unskilled ones when imports from an advanced country rise, whereas they decrease for unskilled workers but increase for skilled ones when imports from a developing country rise. The results provide support for the Stolper–Samuelson theorem.

scholarly journals THE DYNAMICS AND DETERMINANTS OF SLAVE PRICES IN AN URBAN SETTING: SANTIAGO DE CHILE, c. 1773-1822

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia Cussen ◽  
Manuel Llorca-Jaña ◽  
Federico Droller
Keyword(s):  
Important Determinant ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Santiago De Chile ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
Female Slaves ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTThis paper provides the first survey of slave prices for Santiago de Chile, c. 1773-1822. It also establishes the main determinants of slave prices during this period. We gathered and analysed over 3,800 sale operations. Our series confirm the usual inverted U-shape when prices are plotted against age, and that age was a very important determinant of slave prices. We also found that: female slaves were systematically priced over male slaves, quite contrary to what happened in most other markets; the prime age of Santiago slaves was 16-34, a younger range than for most other places; male slave prices moved in the same direction as real wages of unskilled workers; and the impact of the free womb law on market prices in 1811 was dramatic.

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