GDP per capita or real wages? making sense of conflicting views on pre-industrial Europe

Angeles, L. (2008) GDP per capita or real wages? making sense of conflicting views on pre-industrial Europe. Explorations in Economic History, 45(2), pp. 147-163. (doi: 10.1016/j.eeh.2007.09.002)

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Abstract

This paper studies the apparent inconsistency between the evolution of GDP per capita and real wages in pre-industrial Europe. We show that these two measures will diverge when any of the three following factors are present: changes in income distribution, changes in labour supply per capita and changes in relative prices. We propose a methodology for measuring the effects of these three factors and apply it to the case of 18th century England. For this particular episode the gap between the growth of GDP per capita and real wages can be successfully explained and the main explanatory factor is changes in labour supply per capita. Some further conclusions are drawn from the experience of England during the 19th century and Europe during the early modern period.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Angeles, Professor Luis
Authors: Angeles, L.
Subjects:H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
College/School:College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Economics
Journal Name:Explorations in Economic History
ISSN:0014-4983
ISSN (Online):1090-2457
Published Online:21 September 2007

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